


jRobot

by sandymg



Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: J2, M/M, Supernatural_and_J2_Big_Bang_2011
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-03
Updated: 2011-07-03
Packaged: 2017-10-20 23:45:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 36,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/218398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandymg/pseuds/sandymg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jared meets an incredibly handsome green-eyed stranger in a bar he thinks it’s his lucky night. But Jensen has a secret. He’s not exactly human. And oddly that’s not even the biggest problem as very real bullets start ricocheting past them. Jared makes a split-second decision that will forever change his world. Can Jared keep his new friend alive long enough to unravel the mystery of who made this incredible machine? Who wants it back? And is it really a good idea to let his best friend Chad bond with it?</p><p>Because everything Jared thought he understood about life, love and humanity is about to spiral out of control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	jRobot

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** This is fiction. No harm intended. No profit made.  
>  **All art by sillie82 on LiveJournal**  
>  **Warning:** Character death (not J2)  
> [Spanish translation of jRobot](http://z13.invisionfree.com/Supernatural_Foro/index.php?showtopic=4800&st=0) by Alfer  
> [Russian translation of jRobot](http://www.crossroad-blues.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=7249) by ktj & Jenny in the sky; Art by Anarda

 

 

 

 

 

  


**Chad knew that** stories didn’t end happily ever after. Not for everyone. No matter what sap writers put on paper.  
   
Boy meets boy went as well for Jared as a best friend could hope for. Sure there were tears. But there were also laughs. And even if ‘after’ sometimes has an expiration point … well, it was one helluva ride.  
   
Chad decided to write a book about it. His agent loved it. Thought it was fiction but that was okay. Names were changed and all that. Now he is looking over the words he wrote setting up the whole strange tale.  
   
_A man learned to love from a machine who couldn’t feel._  
   
It’s a bit romanticized. Yeah, okay, it's a lot romanticized. Jared, if he weren’t in the story, would have laughed at Chad. But Chad thinks that won’t happen now. And Jensen? He’d call Chad a sap, before surreptitiously wiping away a tear. So it’ll never be happily ever after.  
   
But it’s close enough.  
   
Chad looked at his first chapter. He wasn’t there for the first act. Nope, Chad came in later. He missed the start … and the end. But at least he got to be there for the best part.  
   
And the beginning? Wasn’t so impressive, truth be told. They met in a bar. How boring was that?  
 

 

 

  


**Jared walked** **into** a bar.  
   
Wasn’t his first bar that night. Not that he was drunk. Just restless. Itchy. His best friend Chad said Jared just needed to get laid. But that was pretty much Chad’s default solution for everything. Jared didn’t think that was it. Sure, he’d broken up with his librarian boyfriend about two weeks ago. And he missed him. Sort of. No, he didn’t. Hey, yeah, c’mon … a little, right? Okay, he barely thought about him. Which said what, exactly?  
   
And now he was having an entire back and forth conversation with himself.  
   
Inwardly sighing, he purposely took a seat next to another person because if he sat near someone he wouldn’t be alone and so could have an actual exchange and not be insane.  
   
“Hello. I am Jensen.”  
   
Jared turned. Stared. Holy-all-that-is-all-holy upon a blessed stick! The most beautiful human on the planet stared back at him.  
   
“Hey. I’m Jared.”  
   
“Hello. I am Jensen.”  
   
Jared gaped a bit more. Green green green eyes. Incredible cheek bones. Strong chin. Porn star lips. “Um. _Yeah_. Hi, I’m Jared.”  
   
“Hello. I am Jensen.”  
   
Maybe he was deaf? Like white Persian cats with blue eyes were often deaf because of a genetic flaw that made them beautiful but disabled … So maybe someone having eyes the color of shimmering emeralds and lips so downright sinfully lush had the same DNA problem?  
   
Jared desperately wished he knew ASL.  
   
Figuring he had nothing to lose, he touched his own chest and said with exaggerated lip movement, “Ja—red.”  
   
“You are Jared.”  
   
Jared smiled. Success. Although that pretty much ended his foray into grade school sign language. He could try Pig Latin next but wasn’t sure that would work. “Really glad we got that straightened out. So, Jensen. Can I buy you a drink?”  
   
“Intoxication.”  
   
The pretty lips were making new words now. Jared liked that. “Oh. Would you prefer coffee or a soft drink?”  
   
“Drunkenness. Inebriation.”  
   
The bartender approached and Jared looked up at her bemused look. “I’ll have whatever you have on tap. Um … and a club soda for him.”  
   
He turned back to the probably blitzed Abercrombie and Fitch model next to him. “Too much to drink, eh? No worries. Water and some Tylenol and you’ll be okay.”  
   
“Can lead to exhilaration, excitement, or euphoria.”  
   
Huh, that put a different spin on things. Jared had to stop and think: had he ever felt euphoric when drunk? No, he didn’t think so. Silly. Giddy, maybe.  
   
Okay, there’d been that one time when he’d gone home with that amazing biker but the euphoric description really didn’t apply to the being drunk part of the experience …  
   
“… Public displays of affection. Public indecency …”  
   
“Wow, Jensen. Man, I bet you have some great stories.”  
   
“Five.”  
   
“Huh?”  
   
“My facility had five stories. I can jump ten. Once twelve.”  
   
Jared burst into laughter. “You are really funny, man.”  
   
“I am male. Yes. I have all male parts.”  
   
Jared winked. “I’ll bet.” He downed his beer. He was right. It was going to be an odd night. He always had a sixth sense about this. Of course, some would say all his days and nights were odd because really, peculiarity and Jared seemed to go hand-in-hand. Like the time he dated the trapeze artist. Wow. Talk about flexible. Though really, some things could get dangerous.  
   
His friends worried about him. Said he had wanderlust. Said he overthought things. That he was perpetually looking. Yeah, sure, he dated. Like a lot. And maybe it never worked out. But they were nice guys (even if a little odd) and he’d always parted friends. He bit back the flipside traitorous thought of _boring_.  
   
“Jared. You are pretty.”  
   
“Thanks, coming from you that’s quite the compliment.”  
   
“Flowers are pretty. I saw a butterfly today. Butterflies are pretty. She is pretty.”  
   
The last was said with a nod at the bartender who had returned with their drinks. Well, okay, Jensen was correct in his assessment, but, “Jensen, you need a better pick-up line. And, um, you need to decide who you’re hitting on first.”  
   
Jared never saw the fist coming. One minute he was sitting on his stool and the next he was on his ass on the wood floor and his jaw was pulsating with pain.  
   
“What the--?” Jared brought his hand to his face, wiped away a fleck of blood. He must have bitten his lip.  
   
“I decided to hit you first. Was that correct?” Green eyes glowed at him, the pitch black pupils opening wide and then shrinking again. “There is a ninety-nine percent probability that you are in pain … Oh. Bad. Error.”  
   
Jared stood. The bartender handed him a napkin to wipe away the blood and turned angrily to Jensen. “You need to leave, buddy. Right now, before I call Fred.”  
   
“I was bad. They will come. Supposed to stay under the radar. To lay low.”  
   
Only the first part made any sense. Jensen’s complexion had paled and his breath was coming in quick little bursts.  
   
“Who will come?”  
   
“Error. I am defective. They will come. Take me away. No more Jensen.”  
   
Any other guy would think Jensen was a freak. Would let the bouncer throw him out. Would finish their beer and call it one weird night.  
   
Jared wasn’t that guy. Because inside those otherworldly jade eyes was something unmistakable. _Fear_.  
   
A very large, very hairy man approached. _Hello, Fred_.  
   
Jared put on his biggest smile. “Hey. Look, it’s okay. Really. No harm. Just a little misunderstanding.”  
   
“But he just—“ the bartender interrupted.  
   
“No, really. You know, we’re both taking off. Right, Jen? C’mon.”  
   
Jensen tilted his head. “How many stories?”  
   
Jared smiled. “Me? I got lots of ‘em. And I’ll tell you all of them. But right now, I think we gotta go, pretty boy.” Jared put his hand out and Jensen stared at it before tentatively taking it in his own. The other man’s grip was strangely cool, but then again Jared ran a few degrees warmer than anyone else most of the time.  
   
They exited quickly. Jared grinned at Fred and left the pretty bartender an oversized tip.  
   
Outside he looked around. Put a hand to his sore chin. “Well, Jensen. It was interesting meeting you. You’re gorgeous but certifiable. So, no hard feelings and, um, have a nice life.”  
   
Jared walked away. He thought he should be proud of himself. His friends would think he was acting very maturely and rationally and this was good because if he got all mixed up with the crazy, excruciatingly beautiful stranger it would lead only to confusion and things were confused enough as is. His friends had read him the riot act after the animal trainer. All because he’d volunteered his apartment for the chimpanzee. But it was only a weekend and he hadn’t realized what the laws were in this state. Besides, the neighbors were busybodies. It was probably a good thing that the parents at the center hadn’t heard about it. The kids would have loved it, though.  
   
And it’s not like anything went wrong with his last boyfriend. Well. It was a ridiculous and old-fashioned rule about having to be quiet in libraries.  
   
But this time. Hell, he’d just walked away.  
   
He never walked away.  
   
Which might explain why Jensen was following him.  
   
“Jared. Help.”  
   
Oh shit.  
   
“Look, dude, I, um, I don’t know you but I think you need more help than I can give you. You should just go home, okay?”  
   
“Hide me. Or, I will be … terminated early.”  
   
_What?!_  
   
“What?”  
   
And then the strangest thing happened. Jensen parted his lips to answer, had the start of Jared’s name out of his mouth, and he just … froze. Those pleading eyes that Jared was doing his damnedest to not look at suddenly went blank. Like someone’d flipped a switch.  
   
Then that kissable pink mouth opened and closed like the mouth of a fish in an aquarium, Jensen’s head _twitched,_ and, “Hello. I am Jensen.”  
   
“Right. You’re Jensen. Got that. Let’s get back to the terminate part. You mean, as in fired, right?”  
   
Jensen’s pupils did that odd dilate-and-shrink thing again. His eyes were huge now as they drifted slowly down Jared’s body in the most complete look-over Jared had ever received. And at six-feet-four plus he’d gotten his fair share of up and downs before. But this … it was like the dude was getting every measurement. And from the amount of time his eyes lingered _there_ before looking up to meet his eyes … even that question seemed to be answered.  
   
“You are Jared.”  
   
Jared sighed. They were going backward. He glanced at his watch. Late. Clearly this night wasn’t going to end in any way that he’d anticipated.  
   
He was surprised when Jensen spoke again. “I am sorry to confuse you. I had to reboot.”  
   
“Yeah. I know how that is. I mentally hit alt-control-delete all the time. Tend to think ahead of myself, you know? So, if you’re feeling better now we should say goodnight. Okay?”  
   
Jensen tilted his head. “I do not feel better.”  
   
“Oh. Well, sorry to hear that. But we should still—“  
   
“I do not feel. But I will be terminated. And I do not want that yet.”  
   
The eyes meeting his might be talking about not feeling but they sure were tugging Jared’s heartstrings. Dammit. “I live pretty close to here. Want to come and hang out for a while? Maybe have some coffee and talk about it? Losing your job can be tough.”  
   
“Job?”  
   
“Yeah. You said you’re going to be fired.”  
   
“No. I do not believe they will burn me.” His eyes grew bigger and his face a bit paler in the streetlight. “But I do not know for certain. It would seem like this body would be too valuable, but if it is broken beyond repair then maybe I will be incinerated.”  
   
Jared stared at the man as a horrible realization dawned. A valuable body? A face like that? And worried like he clearly was … the poor guy was a prostitute.  
   
With people shooting machine guns at him.  
   
Jared was suddenly on the ground with Jensen layered over him. Rat-tat-tat split the sidewalk around them.  
   
_What the--?_  
   
“Jared?”  
   
“Yeah?”  
   
“Run.”  
   
He didn’t need to be told twice. Jensen crouched up, grabbed Jared’s hand, and they took off up the street, serpentining to avoid the bullets that were ricocheting around, bouncing off buildings and breaking the sidewalk in dusty bursts. Jared’s breath hitched out of his body faster than he knew possible. Those. Were. Bullets. Flying at him!  
   
Think, Padalecki. He was back in third-person mode. About to race through traffic against the red light. He stopped short of being hit by a taxi. The driver cussed at both of them.  
   
But this was good.  
   
“C’mon.” He pulled Jensen into the taxi.  
   
The other passenger started yelling but Jared shouted over her. “Drive. Now!” Maybe the cabbie recognized the whiz that ended in a thud in the cab roof. Or he liked to follow orders. Whatever. He drove.  
   
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The attractive woman in her mid-thirties whose lap Jared was practically in was spitting nails. Her bluster started to die, however, when she got a look at Jensen. Yeah. He kinda had that effect on people. The whole ‘like looking into the sun’ thing. Jared smirked.  
   
“Hello. I am Jensen.”  
   
The woman’s eyes widened. “Hi. I’m Liz.” Not that Jared was vain or anything but people usually noticed him at least a little. Yeesh.  
   
“I’m Jared,” he volunteered. She finally moved her eyes over Jared. Well, it was about time.  
   
“Where you going?” the driver asked.  
   
“Take the lovely lady where she’s going first.” Jared smiled widely at her. Then he glanced at Jensen who was staring out his window, apparently mesmerized by the passing cityscape. Jared hesitated a moment and then gave the driver his address as the second stop.  
   
Inside his apartment Jared grabbed a water out of the refrigerator and tossed one at Jensen who caught it one-handed and studied it as if he’d never seen a bottle of water before. Handsome. But batty as a fruitcake. Jared sighed. And then Jared noticed the hole in Jensen’s sleeve.  
   
“Shit! Oh my god, Jensen. They shot you.”  
   
He reached over to examine the other man’s arm. The hole went straight through the fabric. Only. There was no blood. Which made no sense. “I don’t … take off your shirt.”  
   
Jensen blinked at him.  
   
“Jensen. You were hurt. Take off your shirt so I can check it out.”  
   
“Jared. It is fine. I have repaired myself. The damage was minimal. But I am still broken. I cannot identify the source of my error earlier. I have been noticed and I will be terminated.”  
   
Jared ignored Jensen and pushed the sleeve carefully up his arm. Jensen did not react, even though it should have hurt.  
   
A purplish thin liquid leaked out of the hole in his skin. It looked like watered down ink, just starting to dry, and felt slightly oily.  
   
Jared worked with preschoolers. He knew what blood looked like. It never looked like that. He took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. He opened the kitchen junk drawer and pulled out a pen light.  
   
“Hold still.”  
   
With shaking hands, he pointed the light into the wound on Jensen’s upper arm. A fleshy layer, more of the purplish substance – like a modified blood of sorts, and super thin fiber-like wires. He stared harder and the penlight reflected off something shiny.  
   
_Metal_.   
   
Jared dropped the penlight and took a leap back. “You … you’re … but … you’re not possible.”  
   
“No. I am Jensen.”  
   
Jared bit back an hysterical laugh. He was funny. The _robot_ was flippin’ funny. Okay. Maybe this was a setup. A friend with some connections to a special effects shop. Pretty darn amazing movie-quality FX, but still. Made a helluva lot more sense than the Tin Man here.  
   
“Was it Chad?”  
   
Jensen tilted his head regarding him. His eyes did that funny little dilation. “There are 255,489 people in the United States named Chad. I will need more data to narrow down the probability of a specific Chad having anything to do with me.”  
   
Jared laughed. He backed against the wall and slid down because he couldn’t stop and people with real bullets were just shooting at him and this … this … man … had a bullet hole in his arm and was leaking purple blood. Only. Not blood. Motor oil or something. And why, why not just once, couldn’t his attempt to pick up a good-looking guy go the normal way? Why couldn’t he just be drunk and fucking and waking up with rat’s breath and a clumsy embarrassed moment of _shit, who are you?_  
   
“You are amused.”  
   
Jared wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to catch his breath. Jensen continued again in his stilted speech. “I am not designed for humor.”  
   
“Then you come to it naturally, pal.”  
   
Jensen hitched his lips up in a sort of smile. It looked good on him. Jared swallowed some of his water and pointed to the living room. “C’mon, sit.”  
   
On the couch, they sat side by side. Jared tucked a leg under himself and faced his very unusual guest. He knew his relationships routinely took weird dives. Like his life was one long search that always ended in disaster. That time he’d dated the pastry chef, for instance. But how was Jared to know that was a wedding cake? It wasn’t even white. Okay, it had like five tiers or something. But Jared had only taken a little piece from the top. Bridezilla didn’t need to be quite that upset. Henri had baked her another cake. Okay. Maybe it was after the wedding. But. Yeesh.  
   
So Jared kept his voice calm as he asked his next question. “Jensen. Are you a machine?”  
   
“I am Jensen.”  
   
“Yes. I know that. Are you … biological?”  
   
Jensen’s eyes got greener. Or bigger. Or both. “No. Not exactly. I have organic components.”  
   
“Did the bullet hurt you?”  
   
“I cannot feel pain. Not like you do. I am aware of injury. I self-repair when I can. That was not difficult. The other correction is harder.”  
   
“What do you mean, ‘the other’?”  
   
“I did not process the data correctly in the drinking establishment. That was a serious error and brought attention to me. If I go back, I will be terminated.”  
   
“The men shooting. They want you back?”  
   
“Yes.”  
   
“Who are they?”  
   
“They are from the facility.”  
   
“The facility?”  
   
“Cybernon.”  
   
“Never heard of it.”  
   
Jensen regarded him a moment. “Civilians do not know of it.”  
   
Jared looked Jensen over. He hated the thought but couldn’t help himself. He had to be worth millions. Maybe more.  
   
“Jensen, are you sure that they’d terminate you? You must be valuable to them. I mean, they bothered to … build you.”  
   
“They will save all the parts. I will be recycled. You are right.”  
   
Dammit if Jensen’s eyes didn’t look _sad_. “I thought you said you don’t feel emotion.”  
   
“I cannot.”  
   
Jared didn’t say anything. He was so tired. The adrenaline rush was long gone and he felt bone weary. “I’m gonna crash. Do you … rest? Sleep? Go on standby or something?”  
   
How crazy was it that already it was all starting to sound normal to his ears? Jensen nodded. “I can go into sleep mode.” He looked hesitant. Which was impossible. Except he did. More than that. He looked scared.  
   
Jared leaned in. “Jensen? What is it?”  
   
“You can call them. They will not shoot you. They will be happy to have me back. I will not know until it is too late.”  
   
Something warmed deep inside Jared. “I wouldn’t do that. Never. Okay?” He met Jensen’s eyes. They glowed at him. Jared was asking for trust. Which Jensen just said he couldn’t feel.  
   
“Okay.”  
   
Jared smiled. 

 

  
Jared woke to the sound of the fire alarm. Which pretty much meant that he awoke screaming like a little girl, gasping for breath and almost peeing in his shorts. _Fuck_.  
   
He ran out of the bedroom.  
   
Jensen stood in the kitchen hovering over the flaming toaster. He seemed perplexed and stood motionless.  
   
Jared yanked at a dish towel and smothered the small flame. He shoved open the window before waving madly at the fire alarm, which continued to blare horrifically.  
   
Dammit. Even without a battery the thing kept going. Was hot wired to the ceiling.  
   
“Can’t you talk to it or something?” he yelled at Jensen over the blare.  
   
Jensen tilted his head and studied Jared as if he were a unique specimen in the zoo. Covering his ear with one hand Jared started swinging the dish cloth wildly around the smoke, hoping to disperse it.  
   
“Given the cubic centimeters of this room you will need to achieve a speed of fifty strokes per second in order to dissipate enough of the heat to turn off the sensor.”  
   
“What?”  
   
“I do not believe you are waving quick enough.”  
   
The doorbell rang. “Fire department!”  
   
Oh crap. Could this morning get any worse?  
   
Jared dropped the cloth and swung the door open. “It’s okay. It’s fine. No fire any more. Just the alarm won’t—“ The alarm stopped. The quiet was so sudden, Jared jerked slightly.  
   
Two firemen entered, eyeing Jensen oddly. Jared followed their stares and that’s when he realized Jensen was naked.  
   
Carefully avoiding the naked man now in his living room, the fireman entered the kitchen and unplugged the toaster. “Might want to get this serviced,” one of them said matter-of-factly.  
 

  


   
Jared poured cereal into a bowl while looking at his blackened toaster sadly. It was one of those models with the extra-wide slots so he could toast bagels. He really loved toasted bagels in the morning. He poked his Rice Krispies until the little pops reached his ears. It made him smile despite the insane morning.  
   
Across from him Jensen sat staring blankly, dressed in Jared’s old sweats and t-shirt. His clothes were soiled from some pre-fire kitchen adventures and that’s why he’d taken them off. Jared’s clothes were too big on him and made Jensen look even more like the over-grown child Jared decided he was, machine or not. A feeling of protectiveness swept over Jared. He was used to children. Worked with them all day running the day care center. In a way things were starting to make sense. He appreciated Jensen’s good looks, but he was very much like a strikingly beautiful child.  
   
At least it was Saturday so he wouldn’t have to leave Jensen alone all day while he went to work. Given the apparent danger that surrounded Jensen, Jared couldn’t bring him near the center. But he really didn’t want to leave him alone either. This morning proved how bad an idea that would be. He sighed. What the hell was he supposed to do with the robot-child?  
   
“I am sorry, Jared. I have damaged your bread-heating device.”  
   
Jared looked over, putting down a soggy spoonful. “It’s okay.”  
   
“I can try to repair the device, if you wish.”  
   
“Sure. If you think you can safely. I don’t want any more fires though, okay?”  
   
“Fire is dangerous.”  
   
“Yes. It is. Did you get burned?” Jared asked suddenly. He hadn’t noticed any damage, but he also hadn’t thought to ask until now.  
   
“It is repaired,” Jensen answered matter-of-factly.  
   
Jared accepted this and decided to move on and find out more about Jensen. “Jensen? Are there other robots … like you?”  
   
“I am Protocol One.”  
   
“You were the first?”  
   
“Yes. If testing goes well, there will be more.”  
   
“How many more?”  
   
“I do not know.”  
   
“What kind of testing?”  
   
“Motor skills, critical analysis, languages, combat skills—”  
   
Jared cut Jensen off even though it looked like he was going to continue. “Were they creating soldiers? Mechanical — well, whatever your are – soldiers?!”  
   
“I was to be deployed as necessary.”  
   
“Deployed where?”  
   
“I do not know.”  
   
Jared took another spoonful of cereal. Jensen’s attention was suddenly drawn to Jared’s bowl.  
   
“That sustenance makes noise.”  
   
Jared swallowed and looked up suddenly, milk slightly dribbling on his lips. He couldn’t help but smile. “Yep. Snap. Crackle. Pop.” He pushed the bowl toward the man-child-machine in his kitchen. Jensen put his head closer and turned it sideways.  
   
After a moment the same soft pop left the robot’s lips. Jared knew it wasn’t possible but he could swear Jensen’s eyes were twinkling more as he imitated the sound. The mimicry was perfect. Like Jensen was filled with cereal coming apart in tiny bursts in his tummy. Jared considered this ability to copy sounds, trying to imagine how useful this would be to the military.  
   
A dark thought wiped away Jared’s smile.  
   
“Jensen. Are you trained to kill?”  
   
Jensen looked up. The popping stopped. “I was fully trained in all forms of combat.”  
   
Jared didn’t want to feel afraid. And he didn’t. Mostly. Dammit, weren’t there supposed to be rules about this or something? “What about the rules of robotics? Aren’t you supposed to be forbidden from hurting a human?”  
   
Jensen’s eyes did that weird sideways twitch again. “I do what is necessary to fulfill my mission.”  
   
“And what is that?”  
   
“I do not know. I have left the facility.”  
   
Jared nodded his head in an understanding he didn’t feel. “Jensen. Can you promise me something? Agree to it now?” Jensen looked at him in what could only be called puzzled. “Don’t hurt anyone. I know you didn’t mean to hit me last night. That you misunderstood. So, no matter what, just assume that your mission now is to not hurt anyone. Can you do that?”  
   
“Causing Jared pain was incorrect.”  
   
“Jensen. This is important. Causing _anyone_ pain is incorrect. Anything alive. You can’t hurt anything that is alive.”  
   
Green eyes met his. “Even those who are trying to terminate me?”  
   
_Fuck_. Should he order the robot – Jensen – to just surrender and let himself be essentially killed? But would they terminate him? Jared thought most likely they’d simply take him in and reprogram him to become the perfect killing machine Jared was now trying to prevent.  
   
Maintaining eye contact Jared asked, “What do you think?”  
   
“I will not hurt anyone.”  
   
“Even if—“  
   
“I do not wish to be terminated early. But Jared has helped me.” His head twitched, then steadied. It looked exactly like someone making a tough decision. “I will not hurt anyone.”  
   
Jared let out the breath he’d been holding. He pushed the soggy cereal bowl away. “You know what? This isn’t going to do it. C’mon, let’s get us some real breakfast.”  
 

  


   
The last thing Jared needed were his friends meeting Jensen. So, of course, it was the first thing to happen.  
   
“Jay-man, I knew I’d find you in here!”  
   
_Chad_. His best friend approached and took a seat next to Jared, eyes flying to Jensen questioningly. “New friend?” The look that Jared got made it clear Chad assumed this was a new boyfriend.  
   
The diner was near Jared’s apartment. It was nowhere near Chad’s but that didn’t matter. His friend would work his way uptown and show up and never leave pretty much every weekend. Normally Jared didn’t mind.  
   
“I’m Chad,” Chad said to Jensen when the silence grew a little too long. “Tell me you don’t own any exotic animals.”  
   
“I do not own any exotic animals.”  
   
Chad laughed. It came out slightly relieved. “Washing monkey feces off the ceiling? Not fun.”  
   
“There are two hundred different types of monkeys.”  
   
“Yeah? Huh. I didn’t know that.”  
   
Jensen nodded. “They are divided into New World Monkeys and Old World Monkeys. New World Monkeys include the Spider Monkey, Red Howler Monkey, Squirrel Monkey, Saddle Back Tamarin, Lion Tamarin, Owl Monkey, Marmosets, Titi Monkey—“  
   
“Jensen. Thanks. But you can stop now.” Jared turned to Chad’s open-mouthed stare. “He … gets excited about things.”  
   
“Right. Jensen, eh? Unusual name.”  
   
Jared fought back the urge to say _you don’t know the half of it_.  
   
“A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.”  
   
Chad chuckled. “Well then, Jay-man, coulda been worse. Coulda burned your apartment down and not just crapped all over it.”  
   
“I almost burned the apartment down. Jared put out the fire. I damaged Jared’s bread-heating device. But I will try to fix it.”  
   
Chad’s hand landed on Jared’s shoulder. “Jay? Please. Not again.”  
   
“It’s not like that.”  
   
“Where’d you find him?” Chad asked as if Jensen wasn’t there. Jared knew that Jensen wouldn’t feel insulted but, dammit, Chad didn’t know that. What if this was a real someone he’d just met?  
   
“Stop it. You’re being rude. Jensen and I met … recently. He’s a friend. It’s not. It’s not like that.”  
   
Chad looked unconvinced. “Well, he’s the prettiest damn thing you ever brought home. I’ll give you that.”  
   
“Chad!”  
   
Chad put his hand out placating. “Hey, it’s cool. Knew this would be coming soon once the librarian kicked off.”  
   
“Fuck, Chad, Stan didn’t ‘kick off’. You make it sound like I killed him or something.”  
   
“That would be wrong,” Jensen said solemnly.  
   
Both men looked at him. “Yes. It would be,” Jared reiterated.  
   
“What do you do, Jensen?” Chad asked suddenly.  
   
“I do not know. I am learning.”  
   
Chad nodded. “Yeah. True for us all. Well, Jay here is good with existential crises.” He turned to Jared. “Didn’t the librarian join the circus or something?”  
   
“No. That was the trapeze artist. And he just switched jobs, it was hardly a crisis. Look, um, Chad … I’m kinda busy today.” He cringed, knowing that Chad wouldn’t take this well.  
   
His friend looked between Jared and Jensen and was about to speak when Jensen reached out and grabbed Jared’s wrist hard. “Jared. They are back.”  
   
“Who?”  
   
“The men from last night. I saw their vehicle pass by outside. It’s a 99.9999 percent certainty that it is the same one.”  
   
_But how?_ He didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until Jensen replied. “I do not know. Insufficient data.”  
   
Jared turned to Chad. “Did you drive here?”  
   
“Yeah, I’m parked out back.”  
   
Jared thought quickly and tossed money on the table. “Keep your head down but walk at a normal pace.”  
   
“Jay – what the hell?”  
   
“Go. Now.”  
   
He led Jensen and Chad to the back parking lot but stopped just outside the restaurant doorway. “Jen, do you see them?”  
   
Jensen scanned the area slowly. “No.”  
   
“Okay. Chad, I … we … need your help.” Jared spun back to Jensen. “Get in Chad’s car and get down, make sure you are below the window.”  
   
Chad pulled out of the lot and merged into Saturday morning traffic. After a couple blocks, he risked glancing at Jared who was scrunched down low in the passenger seat. “You wanna let me know what the fuck is going on?”  
   
“Let’s go to your place. I’ll … explain later. Okay?”  
   
Chad huffed but drove on.  
   
Inside Chad’s apartment Jensen looked around slowly. It was a mess. Leftover take out containers and dirty clothes strewn about. Chad looked slightly chagrined. “Sorry. Didn’t expect to be entertaining.”  
   
“Do you tap dance? That is a common form of entertainment.”  
   
“For ten-year-old girls.” Chad stared at Jared meaningfully. “Is he _on_ something?”  
   
“No. It’s not like that.”  
   
“Yeah. You’ve said that already. Try something new. What exactly is it like? What. The fuck is going on?!”  
   
Ignoring his friend because he couldn’t think of a good answer, Jared sat on the sofa and spun Chad’s laptop toward him from its perch on the low coffee table. He started typing in the search pane. What was that name? Cyber-something. _Cybernon_.  
   
He expected to find nothing.  
   
_Cybernon Comics_ came up as the first hit. It was the only exact match. And it was in town. Maybe it was a coincidence. But he didn’t have anywhere else to start. They needed information.  
   
Chad was breathing down his neck with impatience as Jared cleared the screen. “Jared? You can’t just …”  
   
“Give me a moment with Jensen, Chad. Please.”  
   
Ignoring the just-ate-a-sour-lemon face Chad gave him, Jared pulled Jensen aside, told him what he’d found and said he was going to check it out.  
   
“Don’t say anything about your mechanical side. Be … be human. Okay?”  
   
“Infiltration is in my programming.”  
   
Jared tried not to shudder at that.  
   
“Chad? I need a favor A really big one.”  
   
Chad was staring at him now like he was crazy. “Jay, what is going--?”  
   
“I’ll explain. I promise. Jensen is … “ He approached Chad and lowered his voice. “He’s like a kid.”  
   
Chad’s eyes opened wide. “You mean like mentally?”  
   
Jared didn’t like this lie but it was the best he could come up with on the fly. “In a way. Just. Special needs. Anyway, I need you to keep an eye on him for a few hours. Don’t let him leave. Or talk to anyone. Or. Anything.”  
   
“Jay. Even for you this is weird.”  
   
“Look. He won’t shit on your ceiling. I promise. Just do this for me. I’ll be back.”  
   
“Where are you--?”  
   
“I have to take care of something for Jensen. Please, Chad.”  
   
Jared approached Jensen once more. “Stay here with Chad. He won’t hurt you. And you remember your promise, right?”  
   
“Yes.”  
   
“Do you think they know who I am?”  
   
“Possibly. But not likely. More likely they are circling the area surrounding the bar in a standard search pattern.”  
   
Jared deliberately avoided looking at Chad.  
   
 “Okay. So you’ll be safe here. I’ll be back as fast as I can, Jensen. Maybe even with some answers.”  
 

  


  
_Cybernon Comics_ was an unassuming shop on a quiet commercial street. It was flanked by a Starbucks and a dilapidated antique store.  
   
Upon entering, the dry odor of dust and paper immediately assaulted Jared. He eyed low rows of wooden tables, filled to the brim with comics arranged by genre and then alphabetically. He walked around randomly thumbing some issues until a nebbish man appeared out of a back room. He was considerably shorter than Jared, with unruly auburn hair and a scraggly beard. Lips twisting in an awkward smile he asked if he could help Jared find anything.  
   
“Nope. Just browsing.”  
   
“Well, I’m Rob. Anything you need, just ask.”  
   
Frustration flushed through Jared. What did he really expect to find here? It was a comic book store, just as advertised. Not some top-secret government front for a robotics factory. Hell, the squat two-story building wasn’t anywhere near big enough. He was an idiot.  
   
Jared was in the back of the shop staring at an ‘employee-only’ sign and debating if he should enter when the front door squeaked open again. He heard Rob say, “Coffee. Great. Thanks, man.”  
   
Turning back toward the entrance, Jared’s heart stopped.  
   
“Jensen. What are you--?” He dashed to the front counter and grabbed the robot’s arm. “I told you to stay with Chad!”  
   
“What--?”  
   
“It’s not safe. They might not know me but they sure as hell know you! Do you want to get terminated?”  
   
“Letgoa’me!”  
   
Rob started to intervene. “What are you--?”  
   
Jared seized Jensen’s arm and manhandled him toward the door. The robot continued to fight, harder than Jared would have expected. Was he malfunctioning again? They were almost at the exit when a dark blur outside caught Jared’s attention. A black SUV was parking across the street. _Fuck_. Three men jumped out. Jensen’s eyes widened at the sight and sparkled greener than ever.  
   
Reversing roles, Jensen gripped Jared’s arm and pulled him toward a rear door. Their eyes locked for a moment before Jensen ordered, “Run.”

 

  

 

  


  
**Jared had parked** a few blocks away. It seemed appropriate for a surveillance mission. Now that seemed like the worst idea ever. Stopping in the alley behind the store, Jensen continued to hold Jared’s bicep in a vise-like grip, but Jared was determined and tugged Jensen toward where he’d left his car.  
   
“This way! I’m parked up here.”  
   
When Jensen started to release him, Jared grabbed Jensen’s arm equally tight, ignoring how Jensen twisted in his grip.  
   
“You’re not with them?”  
   
Oh god. Jensen was malfunctioning again. “No. I told you I wasn’t going to turn you over. Trust me. Okay?”  
   
A long stare later, Jensen nodded, and they jogged down the alley side-by-side. Jared ducked his head out at the end, and not seeing any suspicious pedestrians, motioned Jensen to follow. The car was in sight when the first crack hit the sidewalk. _Fuck_. They were shooting at them again! Jensen reacted first, diving between two bumpers and pulling Jared with him. Jared could have sworn he heard the robot swear. Not like he wasn’t swearing up a storm himself. Would that be another sign of the robot’s malfunctioning if he started cursing in front of his superiors? Though, to his credit, Jensen was using profanity appropriately.  
   
Another ping ricocheted off metal. Jared looked around frantically. Jensen inched them alongside a parked car. As far as cover went, it was better than nothing. A bullet shattered glass above them.  
   
Maybe not.  
   
“Didn’t think it would happen this soon,” Jensen muttered.  
   
“Yeah. They must have followed me. Although I don’t know how. Guess your probability was off as to them knowing who I am. Or … they followed you. Why did you leave Chad’s? Is he okay?!” Sudden worry about his innocent friend chilled Jared like an ice cube had just rolled down his back.  
   
Another spray of rat-tat-tat banged against the car. Then Jared heard voices. Dammit. They were sitting ducks.  
   
“Look,” Jensen said gripping his arm again. “They don’t want you. I’ll just—“  
   
“No. They’ll terminate you. Or worse. You can’t …” He heard steps and a loud voice ordering the hunters to circle. Now or never. He grabbed Jensen’s hand and repeated the robot’s earlier word. “Run!”  
   
They took off in a half crouch, shuffling as quickly as possible in the awkward pose, trying to keep their heads below the vehicles. Jared took point since he knew where they were headed. He trusted Jensen was following. This was fu … flippin’ crazy. No more swearing. A foul mouthed robot was. Just no. But. Oh fuck. The heat of something slicing the air was close. Too close. Jared eyed his car a few feet away.  
   
“Which is it?” Jensen whispered.  
   
“Red Toyota.”  
   
A tight grip grabbed his arm again and they were off. Jared scrambled to the door handle and was turning the key in the ignition as he heard Jensen slide into the back seat.  
   
“Drive!” Jensen ordered.  
   
Jared took off. Minutes later he saw the black SUV behind them again.  
   
How did they do it in the movies?  
   
Jared cut across two lanes of traffic to get in the left turn bay.  
   
“Why are you slowing down?” the robot screamed from the rear. Fuck. Years of obeying the traffic laws needed to get thrown out the window. Jared eyed the approaching traffic and pulled out to make his turn. Horns blared and brakes screeched. He was pretty sure there were swear words thrown at him.  
   
As he accelerated there was a metal-mangling crash behind him.  
   
“That stopped ‘em … Oh, fuck, it didn’t! Pull into that lot and make a U-turn!”  
   
Jared’s tires actually squealed as he took the right-angle too fast. He hit his horn to stop the vehicle backing out as he careened past the parked cars.  
   
“Look out!”  
   
An oblivious cellphone user started to cross right in front of the Toyota and Jared laid on the horn again, watched as the woman jumped about a foot straight up and dropped her phone which spun under his wheels.  
   
“Sorry!” he yelled pointlessly.  
   
They shot out of the driveway and headed back the way they’d come from and damned if the black SUV didn’t pass them going the wrong way. He eased off the gas momentarily.  
   
“Don’t slow down! They’re making a U-turn!”  
   
Speeding up again, Jared tore through a yellow light and flew past two cars by swerving into the wrong lane and forcing the oncoming minivan into a parked car.  
   
He hoped no one had gotten hurt.  
   
The light ahead turned red.  
   
“Turn! Turn!”  
   
Jared just missed t-boning a bus, instead sideswiping the silver car on his right. Goddamn, his insurance was going to go up. Again.  
   
They’d covered three more blocks at way too fast a speed when the backseat passenger snarled, “They’re back behind us again. Fuckers won’t quit! Turn at the next intersection!”  
   
“Which way?”  
   
“Any way! Just get out of their line-of-sight! Now!”  
   
Jared was sure that if he looked at his chest he would see his ribs bulging in time with each heartbeat, because his internal organs had surely rearranged themselves to let his heart climb out. Could too much adrenaline give you a heart attack?  
   
“Into the alley!”  
   
He didn’t make the sharp turn cleanly this time. The car fishtailed and Jared over-corrected and the front grill connected with a garbage dumpster.  
   
Newton was, of course, right about the laws of motion, and though the car stopped abruptly, Jared continued forward over the steering wheel until his forehead challenged the windshield to a punching match.  
   
He thought woozily that he’d won because the glass cracked before his head did.  
   
Hands grabbed his shoulders from behind and shoved him into the passenger side. Half of him anyway, his feet were tangled in the pedals.  
   
“Move over, idiot!”  
   
“Hey, don’ shove …”  
   
Wetness was dripping into his eyelashes. He wiped at it as his legs were unceremoniously pushed over the gearshift.  
   
“God, you are a fucking Goliath!”  
   
“Uh …” His hand was red. He wiped it on his shirt. Looked like one of his kid’s finger paintings.  
   
The side of Jared’s head smacked against the side window as the robot whipped the car in reverse and then swerved past the dumpster. Jared contemplated the neon-colored stars flashing around his head, then realized that Jensen was accelerating through the narrow lane at a suicidal speed.  
   
“Stop! Slow down! You’re gonna kill us!”  
   
The robot didn’t answer. Jared could see his knuckles were white on the steering wheel as he course-corrected with little twitches, leaning forward so far that his chest was nearly touching his fists.  
   
The buildings parted and Jensen pressed his palm to the Toyota’s horn, not slowing a microsecond as the car exploded out of the alley, across four lanes of traffic coming from both directions, and flew into the next alley before Jared could complete his horrified intake of breath. Tire screeches, car horns, and metallic collisions were left behind as Jensen continued to zoom recklessly past trash cans, wooden pallets, and smashed cardboard.  
   
“You can drive!” Jared excused himself for the obviousness of that statement because his head was still expanding and contracting with painful throbs. Guess robot training camp included mad getaway driving techniques, because when they reached the next street and merged into traffic, Jensen stated with satisfaction, “Lost the bastards!”  
   
Jared was shaking. He had to stop, catch his breath. Figure out what to do next. “Can you take me home?” He didn’t mean to sound quite so pathetic.  
   
“Direct me.”  
   
Inching upright, Jared oriented himself as he saw the sign for the Thai restaurant where he ordered from at least once a week.  
   
“Left at the light, two blocks and another left.”  
   
There was an empty space in front of his apartment and he told the robot to pull over. Maybe this was monumentally stupid but he couldn’t just take off. He needed to at least pack a bag, get some money, credit cards. Call the center. Oh crap. Work. The kids needed him. But he couldn’t bring _this_ anywhere near them.  
   
“Where are we?” Jensen asked looking around as if to catch his bearing. “Is it safe?”  
   
“Crap, your memory is spotty again. This is my apartment. I don’t know how long it’ll be safe. But I have to get some stuff. C’mon.”  
   
They took the stairs and Jared disappeared into the bedroom to pack a bag. He should call Chad. Make sure he knows they are both okay. In the bathroom he examined the cut to his forehead. It was clotting already and wasn’t as bad it looked. But damn, it hurt. He washed it carefully, decided to forgo any further first aid for now and swallowed down some Tylenol for his splitting headache. Still shaking he took deep slow breaths to get himself together and try to think of what safe place they could go.  
   
Back in the living room Jensen stood looking around cautiously. Jared noted he was holding onto his upper arm.  
   
“Sustained some damage?”  
   
“Bullet grazed me. You got a first aid kit?”  
   
Jared bit back a laugh. “First aid kit? Well, I got a tool box somewhere if that will help.”  
   
Jensen’s brows furrowed. “I can get it myself if you want. Bathroom that way?”  
   
He figured maybe Jensen needed tweezers or something. Must be tight inside the wiring in his arms. Sighing, he walked Jensen into his small bathroom. Jensen took off his jacket, letting out a small hiss. The material was dark brown and pulled away with a sticky tear. Funny, the last time, Jensen’s inner liquid looked bluish. Must be the light.  
   
Jared pulled open his medicine cabinet and took out a pair of tweezers, a nail clipper and an old barber scissor he used to trim his beard on the rare occasions when he’d grown one. He put them on the vanity in front of Jensen. “I might have small round nose pliers somewhere. Think that’ll help?”  
   
Jensen met his eyes and Jared noted how bright they looked. Come to think of it, Jensen’s skin color seemed different, too. More golden. These energy efficient bulbs were shit for light. Jensen ignored him and turned into the mirror to examine the tear in his shirt. He took it off gingerly. Beneath it he wore a gray tee-shirt. Must have gotten the clothes from Chad. They fit better than Jared’s had. The wound was just below the sleeve’s edge, right on his really impressive bicep. Damn, it looked different from the last injury. In fact, if he didn’t know better, he’d think it was bleeding.  
   
“Do you have some actual blood running around your system, too?”  
   
Jensen grimaced as his finger touched near the wound. “Do you have some antiseptic and maybe some gauze?”  
   
Jared blinked. “Um … yeah. It’s just that the last time you didn’t … “ Then he remembered that Jensen had said he had some organic parts. Guess this must have hit some of that. It made him wonder.  
   
“Does it … hurt?”  
   
“Yes, it hurts!” Jensen yelled. Jared could hear the unsaid, ‘you moron.’ Had a couple hours with Chad’s snarking rubbed off on the robot, already? “It’s going to get infected if I don’t clean it out.” Jensen pointed to Jared’s forehead. You should put something on that, too.”  
   
_Infected?_ Well, if it’s organic then Jared guessed that made sense. He wondered now if Jensen was more cyborg than robot? Or … like those Cylons that looked like humans? They had this weird light in their backs that shone like a glow worm when they had sex. He stopped himself from thinking along those lines further.  
   
Then a different thought crossed Jared’s mind. Since when did Jensen have an … odor?  
   
“You smell.”  
   
“Excuse me?”  
   
Jared moved closer and inhaled. _Huh_. He could swear that was sweat. He shook his head to distract himself from impossibly good looking machines that emitted earthy smells. A quick fumble in the cabinet beneath the sink produced a small but serviceable first aid kit. His mother had insisted he buy it when he’d first moved into the apartment. He pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a tube of Bacitracin and some sterile gauze and tape.  
   
He moved the robot’s hand away from the wound. “Let me see.”  
   
Jensen batted Jared’s hand away grabbing the supplies. “No. I got it.” His tone broached no argument.  
   
Jared wondered briefly at this new authoritative tone but decided to let Jensen just take care of himself. They shouldn’t dilly-dally anyway. He let the robot proceed on his own self-repair and went ahead and dabbed some ointment on his forehead before covering the cut with a bandage.  
   
Back in his bedroom Jared randomly stuffed clothes in a medium-sized duffel. Then with a sigh, he peered out the window carefully. Looked quiet.  
   
 He jumped when his cell phone rang.  
   
“Hello?”  
   
“Hey, you gonna come get your boy anytime soon? I have a life, you know!”  
   
“Chad?”  
   
“Seriously, I thought you said you’d be right back.”  
   
“What are you talking about? Are you okay?”  
   
“Yeah. It’s just, dude’s weird, man. He … keeps taking things apart and putting them back together. And he’s been practicing these jokes on me that just aren’t funny.” 

Jared plopped down hard on the bed, air filling his lungs too slowly. “You mean … are you talking about Jensen?” 

“Who else?”  
   
“You can’t mean ... How long ago did he run out on you?”  
   
“What? He didn’t go anywhere, man. I’m taking care of him like you asked.”  
   
“He’s there _now?”_  
   
“Of course. So are you coming or what?”  
   
Oh god. If Jensen was with Chad, then what the heck was in his bathroom? And then he remembered Jensen telling him he was ‘protocol one’. Where there’s one … “Chad. I gotta go. I’ll be there soon. I promise. Please, don’t leave. Don’t let anyone in. Nobody, no matter what ID they claim to have. Don’t go near the windows. Just. Sit tight and I’ll be there.”  
   
“Jay-man, you’re scaring me. What are you talking about?!”  
   
“Nothing. I mean, just hang tight.”  
   
He hung up and cornered Jensen who was standing in front of Jared’s bookcase looking over titles. “You have lots of books on education,” the robot said.  
   
Jared ignored that comment. “What number are you?”  
   
“Huh?”  
   
“I met Protocol One. Don’t pretend. Were you sent to get him back?”  
   
Jared was slammed against the wall before he could utter another squeak. Strong fists gripped the front of his shirt. “You have Protocol One? What have you done with it?!”  
   
“Whoa! I haven’t done anything with him. He’s safe. How many of you are there anyway?”  
   
The robot’s fists squeezed harder, ignoring Jared’s question in favor of one of his own. “Where is it?”  
   
Instinctively, Jared lifted his arms to break Jensen’s grip, inadvertently putting pressure on the newly wrapped wound. Jensen released him immediately with a loud groan. Jared pulled back as if burned. The skin -- the robot’s skin -- it was warm, hot. He stared into his eyes … noticed the tiny differences, the way the pupil contracted normally, the speckles of brown and gold mixed into the green. Subtle things. A slight curve in his nose, imperfect pores and facial hair and that damn combination of adrenaline-fueled sweat and some sort of aftershave and … _freckles_.  
   
“You … you’re human.” Jared’s hand reached out to touch Jensen’s cheek.  
   
“Don’t touch me,” the man said harshly. “You’re insane.”  
   
“I’m … You’re ... you’re …”  
   
“I’m Doctor Jensen Ackles. So you wanna tell me who the fuck you are and why you’ve stolen my robot?”  
   
Jared really needed to sit down. He slid down the wall and landed on the wood floor with a slight wince as his ass made contact. Jensen … Doctor Ackles … stood above him, nostrils flared and anger pouring off him like waves of smoke.  
   
“You’re human,” Jared repeated again stupidly. Because that shouldn’t be the oddest thing. But somehow it was.  
   
Jensen’s eyes narrowed as he put it together. “You thought I was Protocol One?”  
   
“Y-yes. Jensen, it, he calls himself Jensen.” And then Jared looked up to take in the doctor’s nearly perfect features. “You made that machine to look just like you.”  
   
The hubris of that hit Jared at once and energized him. He stood up abruptly, making the other man stumble back a step. “What kind of egomaniac does that?!” 

Jensen looked away a moment before shifting his eyes defiantly back at Jared. “A really smart one. Look, I have more PhDs than most people have legs. That machine isn’t a toy. And if you think you’re going to be able to ransom it you have another thing coming.” The doctor glared furiously. “I hope you like it up the ass because where you’re heading there won’t even be a key.”  
   
“Where do you get off threatening me? I didn’t steal your precious machine. He found me.”  
   
Jensen scoffed, “Right. He found you. He wandered out of a secure top-secret paramilitary location to find _you_.” Jensen ran his hand through his hair in a whiplash change from belligerent to puzzled. “Why would it do that?” And back to demanding. “Who. The fuck are you?”  
   
“My name’s Jared. Jared Padalecki. And I … I run a daycare center.” Damn. The center. He had to call them. Say he wouldn’t be around for a while. Couldn’t go there on Monday. Couldn’t bring any of this near his kids. In fact, he didn’t want to tell this crazy person any more about his personal life.  
   
Ackles was staring at him with those almost-too-amazing-to-be-real eyes. “A daycare center?” His voice softened and trailed off. “Holy … “ A slightly hysterical laugh escaped. “Where did you find Pro—the robot?”  
   
“Jensen. He calls himself Jensen. And he was sitting in a bar. The bar I made the mistake of walking into.”  
   
“The robot? My robot … was in a bar?”  
   
“Yes. O’Malley’s. It’s not far from here. He was sitting there. I don’t think he was drinking anything. An’ I … noticed him.”  
   
Jensen stared at Jared like he was registering Jared’s appearance for the first time and then Jensen’s eyes grew round as he breathed, “Oh my—you tried to pick him up.”  
   
Jared grew defensive. “No. I mean, it wasn’t like—he flirted with me!”  
   
“Protocol One _flirted_ with you? That’s impossible. You really are insane.” Jensen rubbed the back of his head again, clearly a nervous habit, and released a choked laugh before giving Jared another slow once over. “Although … he had good taste if he did.”  
   
“What?” Jared looked blankly at the stranger whose robot had turned his life upside down.  
   
“Nothing. Look, we’re talking in circles. Where is it? I need to get to it before they do.”  
   
“Who are they? The men chasing us. Why do they want him?”   
   
Jensen looked away. It was obvious he was uncomfortable. “I can’t tell you. That’s classified.” 

  
  
Jared’s frustration grew. “Your flippin’ robot is classified. And if you want to ever see him again, then you’d better start filling me in on what the hell is going on.”  
   
Jared’s cell phone rang again interrupting anything further the _doctor_ might have said. “Yeah?”  
   
“Jay?”  
   
“Chad? What’s wrong?”  
   
“Nothing. He … Jensen wants to speak to you.”  
   
Jared turned partially away from the intense stare of the robot’s creator and told Chad to put Jensen on.  
   
“Hey pal, everything okay?”  
   
“The black vehicle is resuming its search pattern in the area.”  
   
“Shit.”  
   
Jensen – human Jensen – quickly said, “What?”  
   
Jared ignored him. “Jen … make sure they don’t see you. I … I’m coming to pick you and Chad up. I’ll be there soon. Just remember what we spoke about, okay. No hurting anyone.”  
   
Ackles sprang into action behind Jared. “Is that Protocol One? You’re talking to him on the phone?! Jesus, give me the phone. Now!”  
   
Jared ignored the pissed-off scientist and continued speaking as calmly as he could to his much gentler creation. “Promise me again that you won’t hurt anyone.”  
   
“Jared. I will not hurt anyone.”  
   
“He can’t hurt anyone. The aggression algorithm is only enabled during training.”  
   
Jared spun to face Jensen. “Yeah, well, think again because he hit me yesterday.”  
   
On the phone, the robot said with what certainly sounded an awful lot like remorse. “I am sorry for that, Jared. That was an error.”  
   
“Yeah, an error. It’s okay, I’m not mad about that. Just nobody else. Call if you need me. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Can you put Chad on?”  
   
In front of him Doctor Ackles looked paler. His eyes were huge. “He … hit you? But … he shouldn’t be able to—“  
   
Jared didn’t have time for the doctor any longer. “Chad? I need you to pack a bag for a few days.”  
   
“What are you talking about?”  
   
“Send an email to the office that you’ll be taking a few days off.”  
   
“Jay?”  
   
“And that’s it. Don’t tell anyone else. Less folks involved the better.”  
   
“What the fuck are you talking about? I can’t take off now. We’re busy with the summer list—“  
   
“There are … people after Jensen. Bad people, Chad. I can’t explain now. Not until I get more information.” At that he looked pointedly at Jensen. “But it’s not safe. They’re looking for him and they’ve been circling your apartment. Chad. Please listen to me, it’s not a joke. They have guns and they’ve already used them. Wait for me. I’ll call you when I’m near and then we’ll head out.”  
   
“Of all the hair-brained—Jared, even for you this is too much. Guns? Why don’t we call the cops?!”  
   
Chad had yelled that so loud that Ackles heard him and immediately argued back, “No. No police. That’ll lead them to Protocol One faster than him just stepping into the street and announcing himself.”  
   
“What will they do to him?” Jared asked.  
   
Jensen met his eyes a moment before looking down. No words were spoken but Jared suddenly knew that he couldn’t let the authorities get the robot back. “No police. They … I’ll explain, I promise. Trust me, please. Pack a bag. I’ll call again soon.”  
   
He hung up before Chad could protest further. He turned back to Jensen who was now avoiding meeting Jared’s eyes. “Are they after you, too? Or did they think you were the robot, like I did?”  
   
“I didn’t know—I think probably they thought I was Protocol One.”  
   
“You sure about that?”  
   
“Pretty sure.”  
   
“Why?”  
   
“Why what?”  
   
“Why aren’t they after you?”  
   
Jensen finally looked up. “Because I’m on their side.”  
 

  


   
“Do you know how to hot wire a car? Can’t take mine, they know what it looks like.”  
   
Jensen turned those abnormally big eyes on Jared. “No! What do I look like to you?”  
   
Jared snorted. “You look like a mad genius who created a robot in his image.”  
   
Jensen’s lips twisted in a small smirk but he didn’t reply. After a moment, he said, “Call a taxi.”  
   
The taxi pulled around the corner to Chad’s apartment building and both men exited quickly. Jared looked back and forth down the street. His head was reeling. He’d been operating on nothing but adrenaline for hours. The painkillers were wearing off and his head was pounding again from where it had crashed into the windshield and he still had huge holes in what he understood about this situation. Classified. If Jared heard that damn word one more time he really was gonna slug the self-proclaimed genius.  
   
Who in the world called themselves that, anyway? Back in his apartment Jared had tried to get some information.  
   
_“Why do they want Jensen? I mean, robot Jensen?”_  
   
_Jensen had looked at him like he was a moron. “It’s incredibly valuable. A top asset. You didn’t really think they’d just let it stroll out of there?”_  
   
_“Is that what he did? Stroll out of there?”_  
   
_Jensen smiled and for a moment Jared could have sworn he saw a measure of pride. “Looks like it.”_  
   
_“Why?”_  
   
_“Why what?”_  
   
_Jared bristled at the constant questioning of his questions. “Why did he leave? What were you doing to him?!”_  
   
_Jensen stiffened and took a step closer, getting right up in Jared’s personal space. “I didn’t_ do _anything to him. I’m the_ genius _that made him.”_  
   
Blinking away the remnants of that annoying conversation, Jared skulked toward Chad’s, keeping to the shadows of the other buildings. Doctor Ackles walked silently behind him. Jared tried to figure out what he’d say to Chad. As if reading Jared’s mind, Ackles said, “You can’t tell him.”  
   
“I don’t want to lie any more. I owe him the truth.”  
   
“Yeah, well, I don’t. It’s bad enough you know.”  
   
“You selfish … I saved your ass.”  
   
“Actually, I think I’m the one that did the ass saving.” At that, Jensen’s eyes tipped downward and most definitely checked out the subject being discussed. Jared blushed despite himself.  
   
Jared knocked and burst inside as soon as Chad opened the door. Jensen followed, eyes searching. They got wide when they spotted the robot.  
   
“Pro-One.”  
   
“Doctor Ackles.”  
   
Chad stared between them before turning to Jared. “Dude, twins?” He leered. “Kinky.”  
   
Two sets of green eyes and one pair of hazel eyes all narrowed at once. “Chad!” Jared reproved. “It’s not—“  
   
“I am not coiled,” the not-so-human Jensen said.  
   
“Jensen … “ Both turned to look at Jared. He ran a hand through his hair. “I have to tell him.”  
   
“No,” Ackles quickly argued.  
   
“Tell me what?” Chad looked curious.  
   
“He’s—“  
   
“My brother,” Ackles blurted out before Jared could finish.  
   
Jared sighed.  
   
“Yeah, I figured.” Chad held his hand out toward Jensen. “Chad Murray.”  
   
Jensen shook it briefly. “Jensen Ackles.”  
   
Chad looked puzzled. “You and your brother have the same first name?”  
   
Jensen looked confused. He turned to the robot. “You called yourself Jensen?”  
   
The robot looked chagrined. Jared knew he kept attributing these _feelings_ to a machine but really he had a very expressive face. Maybe Ackles really was a genius.  
   
“I am sorry Doctor Ackles. People expected a response when they asked me who I was. I borrowed your name.” He took a step closer to Jared and moved slightly behind him. “Will I be terminated now?”  
   
Jared stepped fully in front of the robot. “Nobody is terminating anybody.”  
   
“Jay? What are they—“  
   
Jared looked at Chad. “Did you pack a bag?”  
   
“Yeah. It’s inside. Look, who are these guys? Why is someone after them? What’s it got to do with you?”  
   
“I … it’s complicated. C’mon, let’s go while it’s quiet. I’ll tell you when we get there.”  
   
“Get where?” Chad asked.  
   
Jared didn’t know. The little he’d gotten from Jensen earlier only gave him enough information to know he couldn’t let the robot get back into Cybernon hands.  
   
_“He was the culmination of years of AI research. Except … they weren’t seeing it that way.”_  
   
_“Who is they?”_  
   
_“The government. The company. Look, I didn’t work alone. I’m not some Doctor Frankenstein no matter what you think. The team is huge. I just … had some fresh ideas. And it made the robot … special.”_  
   
_Jared couldn’t disagree with that. He’d been surprised when Jensen kept talking. “My AI, Protocol One, it passed the Turing Test. Repeatedly. Hell, it apparently passed for human out in the real world.” There was a touch of incredulity in Jensen’s voice as he said that._  
   
_“What’s that test … what do you mean?”_  
   
_“It’s a blind test devised to pit an interrogator, a questioner, against a computer artificial intelligence to see if they can tell whether they are talking to a machine or a human. Pro-One fooled them. Every time. No machine’s done that before.”_  
   
_“He fooled me. I thought he was just eccentric.”_  
   
_“But … you said it hit you? It shouldn’t have been able to do that.”_  
   
_“Yeah, well, it was a mistake. It misunderstood what I said about ‘hitting on someone.’”_  
   
_Jensen laughed. And it shouldn’t have sounded to Jared like the sexiest sound he’d ever heard. Because Jensen was about as insane as they came. And really, Jared should be figuring out a way to separate from him, not get any closer. Shit. No thinking about being closer._  
   
_“Jared,” Jensen said once he’d sobered once more. “Take me to my – to him – please?”_  
   
The four of them made it downstairs before the shit hit the proverbial fan again.  
   
“Jared … the vehicle is back. I believe we’ve been sighted.”  
   
“Fuck! They can’t see me,” Jensen shouted.  
   
“Doctor Ackles, what will they – will they harm you?”  
   
“No. Pro-One, don’t worry about it. Is there a back entrance?”  
   
“There’s the alley where we leave our recyclables,” Chad said.  
   
Jared knew where it was and led the way. Chad, right behind him stage whispered. “Dude, what the fuck is going on?”  
   
“Later. Where are you parked?”  
   
“In the building’s lot, off the side.”  
   
The sounds of running feet sounded ominously close. “We’re not going to make it,” Jensen barked.  
   
“There is a ninety-eight percent probability of being seen in the side parking lot,” the robot added.  
   
Great. Jared looked around frantically. Chad’s building shared the alley with its neighbor. He ran toward the opposite side door. It was locked. “You don’t have a key, do ya?” he asked Chad.  
   
“No. I don’t live there.”  
   
Jared met Jensen’s eyes. “How strong is he?”  
   
“Pro-One, open the door.”  
   
The robot tugged and the heavy door came toward him as if it was cardboard. Chad looked puzzled. “Musta been unlocked. You gotta hit the gym more, Jay-man.”  
   
They ran inside and Doctor Ackles pulled the door shut behind them. “Now what?” he asked Jared.  
   
“It will take four minutes before they can reach us given the approximate speed they were running,” the robot volunteered before Jared could respond.  
   
“Are they watching the front?”  
   
Ackles shot him a withering stare. He looked around the corridor and spotted the staircase. “Up. It’s the only way.”  
   
They raced up the stairs and reached another locked door. This time Chad tried it first. Seconds later the robot yanked it open. “How’d he—“  
   
Jared brushed past him.  
   
The roof was flat and low walled. “Okay, _genius_ … we’re up here, now what?” Jared asked Jensen.  
   
Once again, the robot answered. “You three hide. I can jump to the next rooftop, make noise and get their attention. They will follow me. Then you can go back down.”  
   
Jensen and Jared said, “No” at the same time.  
   
Chad stared at Jared, then back to the robot. “Dude … is he … a robot?”  
   
Jensen gaped. Really, his mouth opened in this funny little drop and Jared had to bite back an instant giggle. Chad might speak crudely but he wasn’t an idiot. He worked in publishing and lived and breathed sci-fi. Jared knew he’d pick up on what was going on sooner rather than later.  
   
“I am a mechanical form overlaid with organic matter and housing a cybernetic multi-agent AI algorithm.”  
   
“A … cyborg?” Chad asked.  
   
“Not quite,” the doctor answered. “Look we don’t have time for this. It’s only a matter of time before they look up here.”  
   
“Two point fifteen minutes.”  
   
“Thanks, Jen.”  
   
“Stop calling it that.”  
   
“He calls himself Jensen, not ‘Pro-One,’ which sounds like a brand of dog food,” Jared argued.  
   
Chad interrupted. “Guys … missing the point. Two minutes till the men with guns arrive. Ideas?”  
   
The sound of feet on the steps carried up through the open doorway. Jared looked across at the neighboring roof. It was lower by several feet. Oh god. He took a deep breath and walked back a few feet to get a running start. “Yeah. Jump!”  
   
He heard Chad shout, “Jay ... are you insane?!”  
   
But it was too late because he was in the air by then. Seconds later Jensen and then the robot landed next to him. “Chad, c’mon.”  
   
His friend landed near him with a loud thump. Jared looked up quickly but didn’t see anybody on the roof they’d been on. “Jen, do you know how many are after us?”  
   
Ackles answered first. “I saw three men before.”  
   
“Correct. The black vehicle contains three occupants.”  
   
This was going to get confusing fast. Maybe the dog food name was better than nothing. “J—Pro-One, can we make the next roof?”  
   
The robot peered over. “I can. However, there’s a ninety percent probability of you breaking a bone on impact.”  
   
Jensen looked on the far side of the roof. “Hey! Over here. A fire escape ladder.”  
   
Chad looked down. “Dude, are you nuts, that drop’s too far. We’ll break bones that route, too.”  
   
“I can lower you,” Pro-One said matter-of-factly.  
   
The robot let each man down to the top fire escape before making his own graceful leap. Jared and Chad shared an impressed look. Chad turned to Jensen. “You made him?”  
   
“In a manner of speaking.”  
   
“So, you’re like his dad,” Chad continued. Jared chuckled until Chad turned to him. “What’s that make you? His mom?”  
   
“Shut up,” both Jared and Jensen said at the same time. Chad smirked before starting to clamber down. The last leap was a long one and Jared felt the shock in his already tired legs.  
   
The side of the building they’d landed on was quiet, no bad guys in sight. Chad held them back as Jared made to leave the protection of the alley. “No. Stay here. I’ll get us a cab and then whistle when it’s safe.”  
   
Alone, the three of them stood awkwardly. Well, Jared felt awkward. He didn’t know what the robot and its creator were feeling.  
   
“Jared is my friend,” Pro-One said suddenly. He looked into his _father’s_ eyes. “Is this acceptable?”  
   
Jared stared as the most emotion he’d seen yet crept into the gorgeous eyes of the man that had built this perfect child. “You feel … friendship?” Jensen raised his hand as if to touch his creation, but stopped short of actual contact.  
   
“Is that an error?”  
   
“No … Pro-One … it’s not an error.”

 

  

 

  


**Jensen – Doctor Ackles** – directed the taxi to Rob’s apartment.  
   
“We can trust him. He’s … not just a comic book store owner. He’s on my team.”  
   
“We are going to Doctor Benedict?” Pro-One asked.  
   
Jared still didn’t like thinking of him that way, but it was easier than trying to juggle between two Jensens. And for reasons he didn’t want to explore too closely, he couldn’t stop thinking of Doctor Ackles as Jensen.  
   
Exiting the taxi, assured by Pro-One that it was clear, they worked their way up four flights of stairs in a shabby apartment building. Jensen pulled out a key. He called out Rob’s name as he opened the door, but the apartment was empty. Jared blinked as Jensen turned on the lights after quickly drawing all the blinds shut.  
   
Chad whistled. The apartment was filled with computers. A half dozen monitors, some larger than Jared’s primary TV sat atop a long tabletop. Some were blank. One sported a Matrix screensaver. Green characters dripped down the screen. Jared refused to consider that he’d fallen into a sci-fi movie.  
   
“So you’re like a Terminator?” Chad looked at the robot as if reading Jared’s mind.  
   
“No,” Jensen replied angrily. “Pro-One is not a killer.”  
   
“I promised Jared to not hurt anyone. Doctor Ackles. I am broken. Can you check my systems? I injured Jared when we first met.”  
   
The doctor and the robot sat together at one of the terminals. Jensen’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “I can do some examining from here. We’ll need the Cybernon mainframe for a full diagnostic. But I think it was a language algorithm error.” His fingers danced some more over the keyboard. He hit another key and looked at the robot.  
   
“Accepting,” the robot said.  
   
Jared took a step closer. “Are you … uploading to him?”  
   
“He can receive input wirelessly.” Jensen turned an impatient head and glowered at Jared’s surprised look. “What? Your phone can do it! And Pro-One is a helluva more advanced than an iPhone.”  
   
Chad stared as Pro-One’s pupils did that odd vertical dilation twitch. Jared watched his friend jump back a little.  
   
“I see the error now. Thank you, Doctor Ackles.”  
   
Jensen smiled broadly. “You’re welcome.”  
   
Pro-One looked down. “They are angry I left.”  
   
Jensen put one hand on Pro-One’s shoulder and silent communication passed between the twins.  
   
Jared met Chad’s eyes. The scene in front of them—the wordless trust—was _moving_. There really wasn’t any other word for it. He swallowed back his emotions because he still needed to learn what was going on and how they were going to get out of it. That’s when Jensen spoke again.  
   
“You two can go now.”  
   
“What?” Jared asked, voice soft.  
   
“Nobody is after _you_. And we won’t be staying here long.” Jensen’s fingers were flying over the keyboard again. “I’m leaving a trail to confuse them. Airline reservations, bus tickets. It’s nothing that can’t be sorted out pretty quickly, but still it’ll take a little time to unravel it all. By then, hopefully Misha and Alona can meet up with me and we can figure out what do next.”  
   
Pro-One perked up at this. “Doctor Tal is coming? She is not angry?”  
   
Jensen spun. “Oh, she’s pissed alright. Gonna have to keep a hand over my balls. But. Hopefully she’ll still agree to help.”  
   
“Nothing has changed, has it Doctor Ackles? I mean … “  
   
“No, nothing has changed.” Jensen turned abruptly and resumed whatever it was he was doing on the computer.  
   
Chad tapped his shoulder. “Jay, maybe we should go. This is beyond freaky, man.”  
   
Jared knew Chad was right. This situation was insane even by Jared’s usually lax standards. And it seemed like the doctor wasn’t going to turn in Pro-One. Except. “What did you mean earlier … when you said you were ‘on their side’?” He couldn’t help the hard edge his voice took at this.  
   
Jensen hesitated. Never turned around. “I’m Cybernon, dude.”  
   
Jared instinctively stood in front of the robot. “I’m not letting you take him back where folks are going to take him apart. He’s not broken. He’s … “  
   
Jared wasn’t prepared for Jensen’s sudden presence in front of him, close enough that Jared stepped back involuntarily. “He’s thinking! That’s the word you’re looking for. And that’s … fucking incredible.”  
 

   
In the end the decision was made for them. “Shit.”  
   
Jared peered over Jensen’s shoulder. “What?”  
   
Pro-One reported it first, picked it up over air waves or whatever. “Your name appeared in three communications. Jared Padalecki, twenty-seven years old, Director of Happy Horizons Child Care Center located at—“  
   
“We get it Pro-One. He’s been compromised.”  
   
There was something about Jensen’s tone that chilled Jared. “My kids … they know where I work. Jensen … “  
   
“Relax. Your imagination is out of control—“  
   
“Out of control?! What if they send another robot out … a not-so-gentle one this time … Oh god, I have to call Sandy—“  
   
“Who’s that … your girlfriend?”  
   
Chad snorted. “Girlfriend? Jay? Dude, your gaydar is nonexistent.” Chad peered at Jensen. “You’re of his tribe, right?”  
   
Jensen’s cheeks colored slightly, brought out the freckles which Jared was definitely not enchanted by. Not at all. “I’m gay. Not that it matters in the slightest.” Jensen looked back at Chad. “So are you two … ?” Jared snickered as Chad recoiled visibly. “What? _Hell_ no!”  
   
“Thought you were working on your homophobia, pal,” Jared lightly punched Chad’s shoulder.  
   
“Fuck you. I’m no phobe. Just … you’re not my type.”  
   
Jared laughed outright now. “No worries. You’re not my type either, dude.”  
   
Chad brought his eyes back to the handsome duo still hovered over the computer screens. “Well, at least this one isn’t shitting on the ceiling.”  
   
Jared colored as Jensen spun back around slightly shocked. “You dated a guy that shit on your ceiling?”  
   
Jared was relieved that Jensen hadn’t picked up on the ‘this one’ part of that sentence. “He was a chimpanzee,” Jared responded.  
   
“Studies claim eight percent of men have had sexual interaction with animals at some point in their lives. This goes up to fifty percent of people living near farms. But these reports are controversial due to insufficient samplings.”  
   
It took Jared a moment to get past the horrified stare from Jensen. “Dude, no! I didn’t … I dated an animal trainer for a little while. He had me babysit his chimp for a weekend. It … got messy.”  
   
Jensen’s already huge eyes seemed to grow even bigger. And then he cracked up. Laughter crinkling the corners of his eyes and head tilting up in a loud bark of a chuckle. The transformation from uptight scientist to loose, fun-loving gorgeous male heated Jared as if he’d entered a sauna. Whoa. Had to make that keep happening. Maybe he should start telling jokes?  
   
The laughter was contagious and soon they were all giggling. Except Pro-One, who moved his head slowly in that processing way. “This is humorous?” he asked solemnly.  
   
Which only served to set them all off again.  
   
A short while later, calm restored, Jensen spoke the obvious. “We can’t stay here. It’s not secure.”  
   
Jared ran his hands through his hair. “Are you sure they won’t harm my kids, my coworkers?”  
   
“Positive. Jared … we’re a government facility, not some terrorist cell.”  
   
“Right. And if I called the Pentagon right now would they claim knowledge of it?”  
   
Jensen shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean … trust me. The daycare center will be fine. But I need to get Pro-One someplace safe.”  
   
The robot looked at Jensen. “I rode in a taxi.”  
   
“Yeah, he really liked that … kept his eyes out the window the entire time.”  
   
Jensen met Jared’s eyes and Jared really wanted to understand what was going on, what was causing the sudden brightness. Before he could ask though Chad spoke up. “We could go to my parent’s friend’s cabin. You know the one, Jay.”  
   
Jensen looked at Pro-One. Again silent communication ensued. “Chad Michael Murray is not coming up in any communication so far.”  
   
“Chad, you’re off their radar. That’s good. Means you can just get out of here.”  
   
“No way. Me and J—Pro-One bonded. Gotta keep the little guy safe.”  
   
Jensen huffed. “Little? We’re as big as you, dude. Only look little next to the Sasquatch here.”  
   
“Chad, Jensen is right. You don’t need to stick around. I’d rather know you were safe. Maybe swing by and check on my kids.”  
   
“The kids will be fine. They have Sandy and Aldis. Besides, you won’t find the place without me.”  
   
“He has built in GPS,” Jensen volunteered.  
   
“Isn’t that convenient,” Chad replied. “Doesn’t matter. No me, no cabin. What’s it gonna be, science-boy?”  
   
Jensen looked at his robot. “Let’s go.”  
   
They’d been on the road about five minutes before Pro-One said, “We are being followed.”  
   
“What? Fuck. Not again.” Jared looked toward Chad who was driving their ‘borrowed’ SUV – seemed like hot-wiring was another entry in the robot training manual. Jensen and Pro-One were in the back seat. “How do they keep finding us?”  
   
Jensen sighed and damn if the robot didn’t look guilty. Finally, Jensen spoke, “They can track Pro-One. It’s not his fault. He’s blocking his signal but that block gets porous if you get too close. They’re close. If we can get some distance we’ll be off their grid. Chad, you have to lose them.”  
   
Chad started turning the vehicle. “Working on that.”  
   
Right, then left, then right again. Somehow Chad was just catching every green light. But they were still moving at the speed of traffic.  
   
“Shouldn’t you be going faster?” Not that Jared really wanted to repeat the _Bourne Identity_ car chase thing again, but Chad didn’t seem to be taking this seriously.  
   
“Pro-One, tell me how they’re tracking you. Data pusher or data puller?”  
   
Pro-One apparently knew what the hell Chad meant because he answered immediately. “I have already disabled the data pusher function of my GPS but I cannot damp the signal received by the data puller.”  
   
“Okay, then, we need to disrupt it, right?”  
   
“Yes.”  
   
“Water?”  
   
“Yes. That would be effective.”  
   
And just as Jared had relaxed into the normalcy of Chad weaving through intersections at a quick but controllable rate, Chad spun the steering wheel and accelerated in a spectacular U-turn that left tire skid marks behind them. Along with Jared’s stomach.  
   
“What the hell!”  
   
“Hold on, this is gonna be interesting!”  
   
Twice in one day—Jared didn’t know how action heroes managed to not toss their cookies, he was definitely wishing for a barf bag as Chad shimmied the vehicle between a bus and a taxi, leaving both of them slamming their brakes.  
   
“Goddamn!” Doctor Ackles had been uncharacteristically quiet until that little maneuver, but it seemed he’d regained the power of speech. Not that Chad paid any attention to him.  
   
“You’re gonna get us killed!”  
   
“Nah, Doc, I’ve been studying car chase scenes m’whole life, know how it works.”  
   
Jared was tempted to add his opinion to the doctor’s, but he didn’t want to distract Chad as he swerved into oncoming traffic and started a left turn.  
   
“This should do, right, Pro-One?”  
   
And Chad zoomed into the line at The Spotless Car Wash.  
   
“Jay, give me your credit card – they already know your name anyway!” Chad ordered as he rolled down his window.  
   
Too stunned to argue, Jared pulled out his wallet and flipped Chad his Visa card. As soon as the machine spit it back, Chad steered the front wheels onto the conveyor, rolled up his window, and sat back.  
   
“What the hell are you doing?” Jared exploded.  
   
“Water. It’ll disrupt Pro-One’s GPS signal,” Jensen stated, voice clearly admiring the plan.  
   
“Doctor Ackles is correct, Jared. For the duration of the car wash, I am untraceable.”  
   
“And that gives us time to figure out how to hide your signal long-term. Metal shielding would work … where is the transmitter located?” Chad asked.  
   
The slapping of the cleaning strips across the windshield punctuated Jensen’s answer.  
   
“It is in a location comparable to the human neuro-cortex.”  
   
“In other words, it’s in his head?”  
   
Jets of foam splatted over the vehicle.  
   
“Yes.”  
   
“What—“  
   
Chad ignored Jensen as the scrubbers began to spin against the sides of the car. When he’d been a kid, this had always been Jared’s favorite part of the car wash, the satisfying thwack of dirt being removed from his dad’s Chevy. Going with his dad through a car wash had always seemed like an exciting adventure. Wow, he wished that this would be the most thrilling part of his day … Why couldn’t he have just walked away when he’d left the bar last night?  
   
This was how Neo felt in _The Matrix_. Did that make Jensen Morpheus or Agent Smith?  
   
Couldn’t he just relive the chimpanzee debacle? Jared would much rather play the comedic lead …  
   
The high-pressure water blast shook the car.  
   
“Now!”  
   
Jared jumped as Pro-One suddenly leapt from the car, slamming the door behind him. The pounding of the rinse cycle gave way to the roar of the air dryers, and Jared watched Pro-One skip around the pipes and cables to reach a fuse box on the wall by the exit.  
   
The robot pried the cover off like it was nothing, which to him it probably wasn’t, and then waited the few seconds until the rear door was even with him. He was back in the car even as Jensen was still stuttering, “…bad idea!”  
   
Jared wondered if he could convince himself this was all a really bad dream. Maybe he could remember it in the morning and write a best-seller.  
   
Chad pulled out into the parking lot. Jared looked over his shoulder and saw, to his bemusement, that Pro-One had bent the metal lid into a U-shape and had placed it over his head. Jared thought of the weird headdresses worn by royalty during the Renaissance. But he was sure they weren’t fashioned from fuse box covers.  
   
Jared also noticed belatedly that Pro-One was thoroughly drenched and creating a large wet spot in the backseat. He fumbled for the zipper of the duffel he’d tossed in the footwell when he’d gotten in the car.  
   
“Here, Pro-One.” Jared handed over a flannel shirt. “You don’t want to catch a cold.”  
   
“Jared. I am incapable of being infected by a biological virus.”  
   
“Humor me?” Okay, that sounded pitiful. On the other hand, his entire life had just spun out of his control, so Jared figured he was allowed to sound pathetic.  
   
“A rabbi, a priest, and an atheist were stranded on an island …”  
   
“No, I mean … just please put the shirt on, okay?”  
   
“But Chad said that is the funniest joke he has ever heard …”  
   
“Pro-One, your wet clothes are damaging the material of the car. Jared is asking you to put on a dry shirt to alleviate the problem.”  
   
“Oh. I am sorry for getting the car interior wet.”  
   
“ ‘S okay, dude. It’s not like it’s my car. Just keep your hat on, okay?” Chad replied softly to the robot.  
   
Pro-One took the sodden shirt off and it fell in the puddle on the already wet floor. Jared took in his toned chest and couldn’t help but glance at Jensen wondering if everything about the robot was created to match his creator perfectly. That meant the naked body he’d seen in his kitchen that morning had been Jensen’s naked body. Jared’s face flushed. The robot quickly shucked on the dry shirt. Since it was Jared’s shirt, it was too big on him, and now Jared had a mental image of Jensen wearing his shirt. And damn … did this car have any goddamn AC?  
   
“Do you think we lost them?” Jared asked, forcing his mind back to the matters at hand. He turned his head and Pro-One was nodding yes.  
   
“That’s an affirmative.”  
   
Chad chuckled. “Way to go, lil’ dude! Knew we could do it.”  
   
The robot’s lips curved up. It was so human. “We make a good team,” he replied to Chad.  
   
“Pro-One. That was very smart thinking,” Jared added.  
   
Glancing over at Jensen, Jared was floored by the raw emotion in his eyes. It made him want to hug Jensen. Maybe hug him and his stupid robot at the same time. Like a huge group hug. Hell, Chad, too. Okay, clearly his stress hormones were now taking over. The truth was he didn’t know what was going on with Jensen or Pro-One or any of this. He had to get Jensen alone and finally get him to answer some damn questions.   
  

 

 

   
Took two hours to complete the now uneventful drive. The cabin was secluded in a wooded area, a stream running along the back of the property. Jared had been here before with Chad once or twice. Chad’s parents and their best friends pretty much shared this cabin. Chad said the families came here every summer when he was growing up.  
   
Jensen looked around, eyes taking in the rustic beauty. “Nice,” he uttered in a near whisper. “Haven’t been in a place like this in a long time.”  
   
Pro-One looked at him. “There are so many trees, Doctor Ackles. This is … beautiful … correct?”  
   
Jensen just stared at him. The silence lasted long enough for Jared to instinctively realize Jensen just couldn’t answer. He jumped in, “Yeah, Pro-One. It’s very beautiful. Is this your first time in an area like this?”  
   
“Yes. I have seen trees. But not within a natural habitat like this. It was one of the things I wanted to see. It was on the list.”  
   
Jensen stuttered, “Y-you made a list?”  
   
“Yes.”  
   
“An’ we knocked off one or two,” Chad added with a huge smile.  
   
Both men turned to Chad. Jensen clearly surprised, Jared smiling at his best friend. He didn’t even want to know what Chad had helped Pro-One accomplish. Couldn’t be good. But still, he had the bestest best friend in the world.  
   
“C’mon, lil’ dude … I’ll give you a tour. Jay, why don’t you open things up inside and I’ll show Pro-One around the trail. We’ll head down to the swim hole and then turn back. Too cold to take a dip. Although he probably wouldn’t feel it. But wouldn’t want you to rust, would we?”  
   
“Oh … my plating wouldn’t—“  
   
 “It’s okay, Pro-One. Stay with Chad.”  
   
Having Jensen’s permission, Pro-One headed out trailing Chad. It was suddenly very silent. Jared used the key Chad had pressed into his palm and unlocked the cabin.  
   
The interior looked like Jared remembered. He thought they might have slip-covered a chair and replaced a worn table. The television was new and bigger. Still, it was homey and warm-feeling. Wood paneling and hunting lodge ambiance. The main room encompassed all of the primary living area. A huge L-shaped couch dominated the space facing the wall with the new large flat-screen television placed strategically over the fireplace.  
   
He cracked open some windows despite the chill outside just to air out the space. Then he proceeded quickly to the kitchen to brew up some coffee. The cupboards were mercifully stocked.  
   
Jensen stood on the opposite side of the wide counter looking a bit shell shocked. Jared realized the scientist didn’t know what to do.  
   
“Sit. You really haven’t stopped since we met.”  
   
Jared continued preparing coffee and searching for mugs as Jensen settled onto a counter stool. “Jared … I’m sorry you got mixed up in all this. He … Pro-One shouldn’t have involved you.” Jensen studied the slowly emerging coffee. “You must be beat, too. Haven’t stopped either, have you?”  
   
Jared pulled three mugs out of the cabinet and set them down. He found sugar in a sealed container and filled a sugar bowl. Then he looked around some more and found some powdered non-dairy creamer. He set it down in front of Jensen. “Best we have.”  
   
“ ‘S fine. Take it black anyway. Jared, you don’t have to keep doing this.”  
   
“Doing what?”  
   
“Taking care of me. Of us.”  
   
Jared ignored the comment. “Why did he leave your facility?”  
   
“I can’t tell you that.”  
   
“His running off doesn’t fall under classified,” Jared argued.  
   
“Everything about Pro-One is classified.” Jensen dragged a hand along the back of his head. “Look. I get how frustrating it must be for you. But it’s safer for you the less you know.”  
   
“Jensen – they were shooting at me.”  
   
“No. I mean it seemed that way. But they were trying to stop him. To get him back. He … he’s very valuable. And they don’t want knowledge of him to get out. The way he looks … “  
   
_He looks just like you_. But he said instead, “They think people will be scared.”  
   
Jensen looked away, wouldn’t meet Jared’s eyes. His voice was soft. “Even I didn’t realize … He’s _learning_ so fast. I think he really could fool people.”  
   
“Fooled me,” Jared said unnecessarily. “Thought he was … eccentric.” Really, nuts. But he didn’t want to insult Jensen’s _child_.  
   
“Jesus, Jared. I didn’t think … “ Jensen stood all of a sudden. “Is there a land line? I can’t use my cell. I pulled it apart when all this started so I couldn’t be tracked.”  
   
“Sure. Over by the sofa. But … who do you mean to call? Jensen, you can’t really leave me in the dark about all this. It’s not fair.” He suspected his voice was taking on a rather immature whine but he didn’t care. There had been men shooting at him. He deserved to know why.  
   
Jensen finally met his eyes again. “Jared. I’m sorry. You seem like a really great guy. And under other … “  
   
Jared nodded because he got it. Under other circumstances he’d have hit on Jensen, too. The guy was gorgeous. And smart. And pretty much everything Jared valued in a man. Except for an inability to share anything.  
   
“ … The thing is, I like you. And I need to figure out a way to get you out of this. Not involve you deeper.”  
   
Laughter wafted in from out the open window and both men simultaneously turned to look. Chad and Pro-One were tossing a Frisbee back and forth between them. Jensen’s eyes widened. Jared chuckled, his smile bringing out his dimples.  
   
“Looks like our boys have bonded. And Chad’s not the only one. I care about what happens to him. What they’re gonna turn him into. I’m no robotics expert. Hell, I can barely handle my Mac at home. But he’s not … since when can computers … Jensen, what _is_ he?”  
   
The scientist turned and stared back out the window before returning his gaze to Jared. “That’s my baby,“ he said with a small, close-mouthed grin. “Best thing I ever did.”  
 

   
Chad poured more coffee into his mug and glanced over his shoulder at Pro-One who sat flicking through TV stations at a pace too fast to be human. “So, you gave the scarecrow his brain?”  
   
Jensen nodded. “I created the AI. Been working on the algorithm my entire career. Hell, almost my whole life. Since I got my first computer and started fooling around with code.”  
   
“Isn’t AI like the holy grail for you types?” Chad asked.  
   
“Yeah. A computer that can learn. There’s been some past successes. Deep Blue, of course. And then Watson. But those early algorithms all suffered from combinatorial explosion.”  
   
“What’s that?” Jared asked.  
   
“Oh. It just means there was never enough resource power to keep up with the so-called learning. But I went another route, using sub-symbolic reasoning and interface agents to create a neural net that mimics a Piaget way of learning.”  
   
Jared’s eyes widened and his head flew to Pro-One before returning his attention back to Jensen. The scientist smiled broadly at Jared. “Thought that would get to you. You studied education.”  
   
Jared nodded, still processing quickly. “He learns like a child?”  
   
Chad interrupted, “Jay, what’s he talking about?”  
   
“Jean Piaget. His theories on cognitive development pretty much defined how people learn. But … how?”  
   
Jensen’s smile was filled with pride. “It’s in the algorithm. But I couldn’t really test it all until … well, he had a body.” Jensen looked away again, clearly uncomfortable. He took a deep breath and then continued. “Then he went through the stages textbook-style. Sensory-motor, pre-operational.”  
   
“He’s formal op now?”  
   
No father ever looked prouder. “Yep.”  
   
“How’d you create his body? He a clone?” Chad asked.  
   
Jensen looked surprised. “Y-yes. Partially. It’s not that simple.”  
   
Jared startled at this. _A clone_? “You mean … he … he really is _you_?”  
   
“No, he’s not Dolly the sheep. It’s not what you think. He’s a robot, pretty much. Except the skin’s grafted atop the mechanical interior. Look, I’m not a biologist. I did the AI. There’s a whole other team that created the body. It’s run by Doctor Tal. Alona. And I have to call her.”  
   
“Why?”  
   
“I can’t answer that.”  
   
Jared bit back his annoyance. At least Jensen had told them something. And he was still reeling over the fact that Pro-One wasn’t just child-like … he was learning like one. The speed human children learned was amazing. Children were amazing. Their brains absorbed like sponges. There was a reason humans were at the top of the food chain. But now … this _machine_. Where did he fit in that pecking order? Jared fought back a shudder.  
   
He pointed out the phone to Jensen, who took the handset into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.  
   
Jared turned to Chad. His friend looked on concerned. “Jay? What are they going to do to Pro-One?”  
   
“I don’t know. But if what Jensen says is true then he’s … something new. And the one thing I know for sure is how scared people get over new things.”  
 

   
“Stop yelling at me!”  
   
It was faint but Jensen’s voice telling the biologist not to yell came through despite the shut door between them. He must have had to raise his voice just to be heard.  
   
“Oh. Doctor Tal is upset with Doctor Ackles.”  
   
Chad and Jared turned to Pro-One. Jared asked, “You can hear their conversation?”  
   
“Of course he can. Lil’ dude has awesome hearing. Told me what song the gal in 4B was singing in the shower.”  
   
Jared shook his head. He didn’t want to know this. He hesitated only a moment and then asked the robot if he’d mind relaying what he was hearing. Sure it was eavesdropping, but Jensen was leaving him no choice.  
   
“You have to bring it in,” Pro-One said in a woman’s voice.  
   
Jared blinked. He’d forgotten the voice mimicking – geez, it was weird. Chad took it in stride. Jared guessed his best friend was aware of this talent already.  
   
“I can’t ... “ The robot spoke in Jensen’s voice. It was slightly different from Pro-One’s although they certainly sounded alike.  
   
“Jesus, Jen. Your career. Your life. The brass is flipping out. Beaver wants your head. Said you’re out of control. A loose cannon. Forget prison. I think they want to institutionalize you. Not sure he’s not right.”  
   
“Alona ... “  
   
“Don’t you ‘Alona’ me. It’s so wrong what you did. I can’t even ... Jensen, you argued and lost. You needed to accept that ... not just ... Of course, Morgan caught on. How could he not?! Pro-One blew past all expected results. Underestimating it was beyond stupid. And now ... what the hell, Jen. What are you even thinking? Nothing has changed. At least in the lab we could have—“  
   
“Nothing. You could have done _nothing_. Like you said. Nothing changed. He ... Alona, he’s safe and he’s ... oh my god ... you should see him. He’s incredible.”  
   
“It’s not a ‘he’ Jensen. It’s a valuable piece of equipment and you have to bring it back.”  
   
“That’s not an option. I’ll call again. Will you come ... when ... “  
   
“Jensen, dammit, I didn’t want this. I told you how it would be. Beaver and the ethics committee were right. How dare you put this on me now!”  
   
“Alona. It’s done. You can make it easier or not. Either way, nothing’s changing. It wasn’t my fucking failure that –“  
   
“Fuck you! That’s not ... How dare you ... ?”  
   
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. God, Alona, please. I’ll call. Come, okay?”  
   
“Bring it back.”  
   
Pro-One paused. Jared assumed that meant a pause in their conversation. Then he spoke again in Jensen’s voice, only softer than Jared had ever heard it. “He rode a taxi. He hung out in a bar.”  
   
“What?” Alona’s voice was equally soft.  
   
“He played Frisbee. He told me trees were beautiful.” Another pause. “He made _friends_.”  
   
Alona’s voice cracked. “Goddamn you to hell, Jensen.”  
   
“I’ll call you.”  
   
Pro-One fell silent and Jared was left with a hole in his gut that churned like a mole was trying to burrow its way out. He looked at Chad whose eyes were suspiciously shiny and had to literally force himself to not grab the robot-child and run away to where nobody could find them.

 

 

 

 

  


**It took several** minutes before Jensen reemerged from the bedroom.  
   
“Are you alright, Doctor Ackles?”  
   
Jensen approached his machine. “Yes, Pro-One. I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”  
   
Jared watched as the robot lifted his hand and gently tapped Jensen’s shoulder. If he didn’t know better it looked like one brother comforting another. There were a million things he wanted to say, but Jared didn’t want to let on that he was aware of Jensen’s conversation. He stood and looked at Chad pointedly. His friend caught on instantly.  
   
“C’mon lil’ dude ... wanna try your hand at some video games? I’m pretty sure we have _Guitar Hero_.”  
   
The robot’s eyes got larger and he practically skipped toward Chad. Jared approached Jensen slowly. “There’s some coffee left. Or ... the liquor cabinet’s pretty well stocked.”  
   
“Hell, yes. Man, I could use a drink.”  
   
Jared nodded. They all could. He pulled out a good scotch and told himself he’d replace it eventually. He poured them all glasses and added some ice. Chad looked grateful but continued playing with Pro-One leaving Jared to talk to Jensen. Catching Chad’s eye again, Jared made it clear he wanted to talk to Jensen in private.  
   
Wordlessly, Jensen followed Jared to the enclosed back porch, looking back over his shoulder briefly at his _baby_. A small smile filled his face. “He’s having fun.”  
   
Jared smiled back. “Looks like.”  
   
“Jared, do you have any idea how extraordinary that is?”  
   
“I’m catching on.”  
   
It was cool and Jared lit the corner stove. They sat on a cushioned wicker loveseat facing out at the stream. Jared had loved this space whenever he visited. He and Chad sat out here, staring into the darkness, nursing beers and talking shit for hours. The only light the glow of the stove and the moonlight creeping in. He’d brought a boyfriend here once. But Charles hadn’t appreciated the space. He was such a city boy. Kept saying the cricket noise was making him itchy. Personally, Jared thought the man probably just had a skin condition. Either way it hadn’t lasted long. Nobody lasted long.  
   
Jensen sighed. “If this were mine I’d never leave it.”  
   
“It’s my favorite spot in the house.”  
   
“I can see why. God, it’s like nothing can touch you here.”  
   
Jared turned his head to look at Jensen. He was right in a way. He did look untouchable. Hiding terabytes of secrets in his freakishly smart brain. Isolated. Cut off. Alone. Suddenly Jared wanted to know more about the man inside the genius.  
   
“Jensen ... if you’ve been working on the artificial intelligence for so long, it must not leave much time for … anything else.”  
   
Puzzled eyes met his. “No. It doesn’t. It ... he ... is my life.” Jensen seemed to literally shake himself. “What about you? You’re a teacher?”  
   
“Yes. I work with preschoolers. I run a daycare center slash preschool. My kids are just amazing. At that age, every day is this huge spurt of growth and learning and development. You can see them working things out, creating new relationships with their teachers, with each other. Learning about themselves while watching others. They look like they’re hardly paying attention. And then an hour later, leap ahead of whatever you were talking about.”  
   
“Jared ... was Pro-One like that? During your time with him?”  
   
“Yes. He _is_ learning. That’s a big deal, right? I mean, not just that he’s learning. But how.”  
   
Jensen nodded. But his eyes moved away from Jared’s.  
   
Jared took another sip of his drink. “So ... what do you do for fun when you’re not working?”  
   
“I’m always working,” Jensen answered bluntly. He didn’t sound sorry for himself. Just stated a fact.  
   
“Doesn’t leave much room for a social life.”  
   
This earned Jared a sarcastic laugh from Jensen. “Social life? What’s that?” Jensen paused. Sipped from his glass before half turning toward Jared. “How ‘bout you? I get that the chimp owner didn’t work out. Are you seeing anyone now?”  
   
Jared looked down. “I was. He was a librarian. It didn’t ... we’re not dating any longer.”  
   
“You do that, eh?”  
   
“Do what?”  
   
“Date.”  
   
“Don’t you?”  
   
Another slightly bitter laugh. “Not since high school. And then it was a girl.”  
   
“Oh ... are you bi—“  
   
“No. Was just expected then. By the time high school ended, I’d figured out what I liked. But then I was working on the algorithm and that took care of my dating life.”  
   
“But ... I don’t ... how do you get to know people?”  
   
Jensen looked at him like he was missing a few thousand brain cells. “Not much to know. For what I want, either it clicks or it doesn’t.”  
   
Jared colored slightly at the obvious perusal he was now getting. “Yeah. I mean, it’s not like I’ve never just hooked up. But these days I’d prefer to know that I can actually have a conversation with someone, you know?”  
   
Jensen blinked and looked away. “I guess. So, how’s all that dating working out for you?”  
   
Jared’s mouth twisted slightly. “I’ve met interesting people.”  
   
“Like the animal trainer?”  
   
“Well, yeah. Didn’t work out, but he was a cool dude. And the pilot got me some discounts. I can still call him to get plane tickets cheap. And the dancer still sends me season passes every year.”  
   
“Sounds like you have smooth breakups.”  
   
“Usually part well.”  
   
“Well, makes sense. You’re a nice guy.”  
   
Jared looked over. Jensen wasn’t trying to provoke. His words were spoken quietly and rang honest. But, dammit, Jared was tired of that word. _Nice_. He’d had more cycling of emotions in the single day he’d spent with Jensen than in weeks with other men.  
   
“You’re not, are you?” Jared didn’t wait for Jensen to answer. Didn’t care if that question was slightly insulting. He reached out and wrapped his palm around the back of Jensen’s neck and pulled him forward until their lips crashed.  
   
The tiny mmmph of surprise Jensen let out was quickly smothered by the ensuing moan of pleasure as he parted his lips and let Jared just take. The whiskey tingled his tongue and he figured that might help explain the incredible heat flushing through him, as if someone had lit a match after dousing him in the smooth liquor. Fuck. It’s not even that it had been so long, although it had been a while. It was more like this _intensity_ had never happened before.  
   
He pushed Jensen lower on the settee, settling his larger frame over the doctor and feeling muscles bunch and contract as they made contact with his own. Strong, blunt fingers splayed over his back, drifting lower until they kneaded his ass before _pulling_. Oh god. Jensen’s erection pushed against Jared from below and tendrils of sheer pleasure crept up his spine at the contact. He let out what could really only be a growl and devoured Jensen’s lips again. Tongue fucking into his, harsh and seeking and so not _nice_. Filthy and hot and needy. He allowed himself to taste and bite and suck. Drawing in saliva and air and _Jensen_ until it was all he could feel.  
   
A firm cough broke his frenzied lust daze.  
   
Shit. Chad.  
   
“I … uh … sorry. I didn’t realize … “  
   
Jared and Jensen pulled apart with a desperate gulp of air.  
   
“Doctor Ackles is a homosexual.”  
   
Everyone started at the new voice. Jared couldn’t help the grin that split his lips as he met Jensen’s eyes.  
   
Chad answered. “Yeah. Lil’ dude, we got that far already.”  
   
“Approximately thirteen percent of the population engages in same-sex activities.”  
   
Nobody said anything.  
   
“The term ‘gay’ can refer to both males and females but lesbians are all female. Doctor Tal is a lesbian.”  
   
Jensen stood abruptly. “What? No, she’s not … “  
   
“I have measured her heart rate upon certain encounters and her physical response to females indicates a preference for same-gender relations. Your heart rate now Doctor Ackles indicates a high level of arousal—“  
   
“That’s enough Pro-One.”  
   
Chad chuckled and Jared bit back another grin. “Sorry to cock block you, dudes, I tried to stop him.”  
   
“We did not obstruct Jared’s penis from Doctor Ackles’ body. In fact, they were pressing against each other at a force of—“  
   
“Pro-One … TMI, lil’ dude. ‘Member we talked about that?”  
   
Pro-One looked at Chad. “I am sorry. Should we leave them alone so they can copulate now?”  
   
Jared choked.  
   
Jensen seemed slightly less nonplussed as he rose from the sofa and moved to Pro-One’s side, then squeezed the robot’s arm. “That’s okay. What did you need?”  
   
“Doctor Ackles? I would speak with you in private. If that is all right?”  
   
Jared looked at Chad who merely shrugged. Jensen didn’t say another word, just followed Pro-One back into one of the bedrooms where the door shut behind them.  
   
“So … “ Chad started.  
   
“Shut up. I know how bad an idea it is.”  
   
“No, I’d never say that. Clearly this is one of your more brilliant hook-ups.”  
   
“It’s not … “  
   
“Of course it’s not … for you at least. But he’s not some wimp librarian or touchy-feely nurse or nerdy virgin accountant.”  
   
“He wasn’t a virgin. Well … not in everything.”  
   
“Right.”  
   
“What’s your point?”  
   
Chad turned on Jared with an exasperated sigh. “The point is that you’re falling for this guy. And he’s caught up in something illegal, unethical and so goddamn wrong I’m pretty sure there aren’t words in the English language to describe it!”  
   
“What do you know? Did Pro-One share more with you about what’s going on?”  
   
“No. He’s protecting that bastard like a good son. But I do know that Doctor Frankenstein created way more than he realized. More than he knows what to do with now. I also know he’s steeped in that shady organization – Cybernon? I asked the little dude how long the doc’s worked there – if he was with some other software maker before or whatnot.”  
   
Jared stared at his friend, unwittingly remembering Jensen’s words. _I am Cybernon_. “What he say?”  
   
“Ackles has been with Cybernon since it was founded. His work before, during, and forever is all classified. Whatever happened. Whatever reason Pro-One is out and folks are looking for him … the doctor is in no way an innocent bystander. You get that, right? The guy is up to his gills in this.”  
   
Jared looked down. “He … cares for Pro-One.”  
   
“What if he’s looking to sell him?”  
   
“What?!”  
   
“Think about it. There’s something wrong with the robot. We know this even if we don’t know what it is. What if he’s looking to sell it so he can get out before his failure is known. It explains why he didn’t listen to his friend about bringing him back. Hell, how do you know who was shooting at us? Never made much sense, that part. Why would the organization that made him act like that? What if Ackles had multiple bids out … and now the sides are fighting?”  
   
Before Jared could respond to this ridiculous accusation, Jensen and Pro-One emerged. It didn’t take a genius in body language to see that Jensen was upset. Mad. Pro-One came over to them looking very much like a frightened child.  
   
Jared immediately approached and put one arm around Pro-One’s shoulder. “What’s up, buddy?”  
   
The robot _hesitated_. “Doctor Ackles and I do not agree.”  
   
“Agree on what?”  
   
The doctor glared at Pro-One and the robot shifted out of Jared’s grip. “I cannot say.”  
   
Chad approached his other side. “Sure you can. He doesn’t own you. You say what you want.”  
   
Jared was about to agree, his head was already nodding that way when Jensen erupted. “No. He can’t! I do fucking _own_ him. He can’t say anything I didn’t program into it. Stop anthropomorphizing him. It’s a machine. An application. Sure, the best fucking application to mimic human behavior ever created. But that’s all it is. It’s not really feeling. He can’t be really--“  
   
If Jared hadn’t seen the tear tracking down Jensen’s face he would have thought he imagined the crack in his voice, the sob that almost escaped. Jensen pivoted and strode back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. The silence rang loud as the remaining three just stared at the closed door.  
   
Chad spoke first. “Pro-One, you’re not a thing. No matter what that bastard says.”  
   
Jared met the robot’s steady stare, but his face gave nothing away. “You can’t tell us what you disagreed about.” It wasn’t a question. Pro-One just looked at him. “Can you tell me why you disagreed? Does he want you to do something you don’t think is right?”  
   
Pro-One’s head tilted slightly in that way that meant he was processing. “I think I can tell you why,” he said after a minute. “It is because Doctor Ackles is too good.”  
 

   
There wasn’t much more to be done. Jared still had no facts to form anywhere near an informed opinion on anything. Especially when it came to Jensen, it was all gut feeling. Except. Truthfully, that was how Jared led his life overall. Sandy said he was all heart and that’s why he was so good with the kids. Chad said he was a sap, but Jared knew his friend appreciated Jared’s softer side, all teasing aside. Every one of his admittedly many past boyfriends had parted well with him. Jensen was by no means a boyfriend. They hadn’t even known each other for twenty-four hours yet. But already Jared knew that breaking up with Jensen wouldn’t be pleasant. Jensen didn’t do pleasant.  
   
Chad claimed the master bedroom and offered to share the bed with Jared. But Jared couldn’t deal with Chad’s snoring and said he’d be fine on the sofa. Jensen could have the second bedroom. Pro-One looked between them a long moment. Then his eyes settled on Chad. Jared knew that look. He did work with pre-schoolers after all.  
   
“Buddy … you wanna go into sleep mode with Chad?”  
   
Chad gave Jared an odd look but then smiled at Pro-One encouragingly. “Plenty of room. It’s a big bed. Bet you don’t snore.”  
   
“I can mimic the sound.”  
   
“No. That’s okay. I’ve been told I do it enough for both of us.”  
   
Jared threw Chad a thoughtful look and watched the very odd pair disappear into the bedroom. He went to secure a spare blanket and pillow from the linen closet, and heard the soft voices coming from behind the closed master bedroom door. He couldn’t make out words but Chad and Pro-One were talking earnestly.  
   
Settling into the sofa he wondered at that bonding. Chad had a childish side and maybe Pro-One appealed to it. But then Jared shook his head because that wasn’t it. The robot was tapping Chad’s paternal side. It made Jared smile.  
   
The sofa was too short _of course_ and so Jared’s feet were sticking out. He jumped when a sudden low chuckle sounded behind him.  
   
“That’s nowhere near big enough for you, Sasquatch.”  
   
“Hah. Original.”  
   
Jensen shrugged. “Day from hell. Don’t have it in me to be witty. Should catch me on a good day.”  
   
Jared sat up, made room for Jensen to sit. “Yeah? You’re normally funny?”  
   
The doctor sat gingerly, moving the blanket and absently draping it over his legs. Jared tried not to study him too hard. Jensen’s eyes were red-rimmed and his face drawn. “Normally?” Jensen looked down and fiddled with the blanket. He let out a soft snort. “Normally, I’m a computer nerd that takes his eyes off the screen only when pissing becomes mandatory.”  
   
“Geek.”  
   
Jensen looked up at that. “Huh?”  
   
“Computer geek.” Jared looked Jensen over slowly. “You. Were never a nerd.”  
   
Jensen laughed at that. “Maybe not. Definitely a geek though. Got the glasses to prove it.”  
   
“Yeah? You’re not wearing them.”  
   
“Well, I don’t really have ‘em any more. I had LASIK surgery so I don’t need them.”  
   
Jared thought about this. Jensen probably looked hotter than hell in glasses. Not that he didn’t look hot without them. Hottest geek in the universe. He looked up from his lustful thoughts when Jensen started speaking again.  
   
“The AI … Pro-One … it’s all I lived for. It fooled them time and again in tests. Figured out things I’d never programmed it to know. But still … it was impossible to be sure until … “  
   
“Until what?”  
   
Jared was surprised when Jensen’s eyes locked with his. “You’ve spent time with him. You tell me. Is it mimicking human behavior? Is it at chimp level or more like a dog? Aiming to please for a virtual dog biscuit?”  
   
“You already know the answer to that. Are there others, though, that are equating him with a dog? Are those the ones that want him back?”  
   
Jensen’s eyes grew cold. “It took billions – plural – to create Pro-One. That’s why they want him back.”  
   
“Do they want you back?”  
   
“Yes.”  
   
Jared pushed on. “To put you in prison?”  
   
Jensen’s brows rose. “Now what would give you an idea like that?”  
   
Whoops. Jared was using information he’d heard when he had Pro-One eavesdrop. “I … well, they were after you, weren’t they?”  
   
“No. They’re after the robot. I’m … supposed to bring him back.”  
   
“But you’re not.” Jensen didn’t reply. “Why not?”  
   
“It’s complicated.”  
   
Jared was losing his patience. “Jensen, please. You know I care about Pro-One and … haven’t I proven my trust yet?”  
   
“There was disagreement about using my AI, Pro-One, in the humanoid models.”  
   
This new fact juggled in among the rest and Jared processed as fast as he could. “That’s what you meant about ‘until’. You didn’t know what your AI could really do in terms of passing as human until he had a human-like body.”  
   
“Yes. We simulated, but it wasn’t clear. Alona … she … her work is extraordinary. Brilliant. Far ahead of anything done to date. It’s not her fault … “  
   
“What’s not her fault?”  
   
“Nothing. The neuronet is suborganic.”  
   
Jared’s eyes opened wide. “It’s partially a human brain?”  
   
“No. But the analogy holds for all essential purposes. The subroutines he writes are unique to Pro-One. He … god, Jared … he’s amazing.” Reverence filled Jensen’s voice.  
   
“He’s way more human than you’d thought he’d be.” Chad’s Doctor Frankenstein crack was taking on an ominous truth and Jared didn’t quite know what to do with it. “Is that why there was disagreement about testing the AI in the body? Because they weren’t sure he could be controlled?”  
   
Jensen just stared down at the blanket. After a moment Jared realized he wasn’t going to get an answer. “Can you tell me this much,” he asked Jensen. “Which side did you come down on? Did you want your AI in the robot body?”  
   
The voice that answered sounded like Jensen’s but came from behind Jared. “Doctor Ackles merged me with this neuronet. He is why I am here.”  
   
“Pro-One … we spoke about this. You can’t share classified information.”  
   
The robot tilted his head. “That is not classified.”  
   
“Of course it is!”  
   
“No. There is no record of the merger. It did not happen officially. Therefore, it is a nonevent and cannot be classified as anything.”  
   
Jensen sighed. “Pro-One. Please do not speak any more about this.”  
   
“Yes, Doctor Ackles.”  
   
Jared seethed silently. Clearly Jensen’s downloading, or whatever one called it, of his AI into the robot body was controversial within Cybernon. From what he could piece together, Doctor Tal, the body’s creator, didn’t think it should have been done.  
   
Enough.  
   
He wanted goddamn answers.  
   
“Pro-One … why didn’t Doctor Tal want you to have the AI? I mean, her robot body to have it?”  
   
“Pro-One … you can’t … “  
   
“Yes, he can.”  
   
Jared turned to meet Chad’s eyes. His friend normally had a cool, slightly cocky look. Was pretty much his default mode. The sadness in his expression now made Jared’s stomach knot like his intestines were coiling into a ball.  
   
Chad didn’t wait for Pro-One to answer, instead he spoke right over Jensen’s protests. “Doctor Tal’s work isn’t quite complete. Or … well … wasn’t deemed complete enough by Cybernon’s ethics committee to create a nearly human machine. It was considered good enough for them to serve as temporary drones.”  
   
“Temporary?” Jared asked weakly.  
   
“The lil’ dude comes with an expiration date. Said he’s meant to last ninety days.” Jared stared at his friend. The expression on Chad’s face laid bare the inevitable.  
   
Pro-One spoke out softly. “I have been operational for eighty-four days.”  
   
Jared could barely breathe, his chest felt so tight. “Wh-at will happen?”  
   
Jensen answered. “The skin decays. Cells aren’t reproducing fast enough … Alona was able to manage some regeneration, but in the end it always degenerates and the body fails.”  
   
Jared looked at Jensen’s tight jaw. The words were said more mechanically than Pro-One had ever spoken.  
   
“Can’t they … I mean … there must be other bodies … he’s not the only one, is he?”  
   
Pro-One answered. “There is a second generation suborganic mecho-shell in development. But as far as I am aware the decay issue has not been solved.”  
   
“But still … it would give you ninety more … “  
   
Jensen stopped him. “Jared, it doesn’t work that way. I told you the neuronet is suborganic. Everything he learned since the merging would be lost.“  
   
“So it’s like … “  
   
“Dying,” Chad answered.  
   
Jared turned angry eyes toward Jensen. “And you knew this! How could you—“  
   
A knock on the door stunned the room into sudden silence. All of them looked at each other with intense concern. Jensen and Pro-One approached the door together silently. A voice called out, “Jensen … it’s Misha.”  
   
“Doctor Collins?” Pro-One asked.  
   
“It’s okay,” Jensen assured Jared and Chad. “Misha’s my colleague. A friend.” Jensen swung the door open. “How’d you … “  
   
A disheveled man walked in. Slightly shorter than Jensen, he stood and peered around the room with unnerving bright blue eyes. He spotted the robot and approached. “Pro-One.”  
   
“Doctor Collins. It is good to see you.”  
   
“And you. Really glad to see you.”  
   
“How’d you find us?” Jensen asked.  
   
Collins’s face broke into a slight grin. Jared felt an unexplainable chill and moved instinctively closer to Jensen. “What … you didn’t think I had a back door?”  
   
“I don’t—“  
   
Whatever else Jensen was about to say was stopped cold by the appearance of a pistol in Doctor Collins hand, pointed right at Jensen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  


  
**“Doctor Collins?”** Pro-One asked. “I do not understand.”  
   
Collins laughed, high and strangely squeaky. He was handsome, but nothing about him seemed attractive. Jared looked at Chad, worried about him, the robot, Jensen. The intruder was a loose cannon jumbled in the mix. Everyone had their own agenda. How in hell had Jared gotten caught up in this mess?  
   
Last time he let a pretty face in a bar catch his attention.  
   
Jared put on his best schoolteacher voice, slow and low pitched. “Now … why don’t we all just calm down. Put down the weapon and talk about this like rational people. Okay?”  
   
Those intense sapphire eyes gave Jared a deep puzzled stare. “Who the fuck are you?”  
   
“My name is Jared. And I’m a friend of Pro-One’s. I don’t want him or anyone else to get hurt. So, please, let’s just put down the gun and act like adults … what do you say?”  
   
Collins and Jensen exchanged a long look. Jensen’s eyes were lasered on his friend. “He made friends, Misha.”  
   
“You shouldn’t have done it, Jensen. Beaver said no and Alona begged you. She’s crying her eyes out because her failure is gonna mean … “  
   
“Misha. C’mon, man, what is this about? You don’t need the weapon. This is me. What’s going on?”  
   
The shorter man seemed to find himself again. “I do need it. Because you’ll never give him up otherwise.”  
   
Chad moved in front of the robot. “What do you mean? What do you want him for? He’s only got days left. Let him live it.”  
   
Misha looked from the robot to Chad. “It’s incredible.” He was talking to Jensen. “What you did is incredible. Look how they react to him. But you didn’t do it alone. And I want what’s mine.”  
   
“I’ve always shared everything. What’s this about?”  
   
“The results since the AI merged are off the charts. Hell, I don’t have to test him to see that. He’s developed relationships on his own. We can’t get there on our own. We need the subroutines he’s written, we need to get them back to the lab and be able to tweak further.” Doctor Collins’ voice was rising with excitement. “Jensen, the applications are endless. Think of the models they could build. The possibilities for fine-tuning, for infiltration scenarios.”  
   
Chad interrupted, “What does he mean get Pro-One back to the lab? Can you save him?”  
   
Jensen turned. “No. The body will deteriorate. It’s inevitable.” He turned back to Misha. “You can’t upload the routines that are part of the neuronet.”  
   
“You don’t know that.”  
   
“You’ll destroy it. Destroy him. Misha, please.”  
   
“I spent my life on this. And it was my subsets that let you develop the positron circuitry. Your delusions of grandeur can’t change the facts. He wouldn’t exist without me.”  
   
“I never said … Misha … Taking him back now will serve no purpose. You won’t get the data. You’ll just terminate him early.”  
   
“Doctor Collins. I do not want to hurt you. But I cannot let you harm anyone in this room.”  
   
Misha steeled himself before pointing the gun straight at Jensen. His eyes grew cold. “Pro-One. You have a choice. Come with me right now or I will pull this trigger. You’re quick and strong and you will overpower me before I can harm the rest. But one bullet will get released. You’ll never save them all.”  
   
Jared’s heart leapt. “No. Pro-One, don’t … “  
   
Too-green eyes met his. “Jared. You have been a good friend.” Pro-One turned to Chad. “And, you. I will never forget you. Well, for as long as my neuronet is functional I will not forget you.”  
   
“I don’t care if he shoots me. Take the fucker down, Pro-One. Don’t go with him.” Jensen’s voice was laced with acid and steeped in anger.  
   
The robot approached his creator. The same face staring into itself like a 3-D mirror. “Thank you. I know you did not want this. But it has been everything to me.”  
   
Jared took a step closer. This couldn’t happen. “Wh-at do you mean he didn’t want it? I thought Jensen went against orders to put his AI in your body?”  
   
Misha glared at him. “He did! I thought he was insane. Didn’t think it would work. Figured it would fry the net and when the brass figured it out we’d all go to fucking prison or worse. _His_ AI ... “ Misha’s gun hand shook. “You tell them that? It’s _my_ AI, too, goddammit.“  
   
“You’re right. I should have told them about you. I know he wouldn’t be as incredible as he is without you. Please … I know you didn’t agree at the time. You, Alona … but look at him now. He deserves this time.”  
   
“Fuck you, Jensen. He didn’t deserve this. You created life only to have it snatched away. It’s fucking cruel. But it’s done. The irony is that I wouldn’t have done it. But you did it and now I deserve my share of the research. And that’s only gonna happen when I take what’s mine.”  
   
“It won’t work. Misha … please.”  
   
Misha cocked the pistol and held it military style in two hands. He seemed less a scientist and more a soldier and there was no question he was about to act.  
   
“I will go with you Doctor Collins. Please do not harm him.”  
   
“No! Pro-One, you can’t,” Chad yelled.  
   
Pro-One approached Chad. Squeezed his arm. “It will be alright. Doctor Collins will not hurt me. I cannot feel pain.”  
   
Jared might have believed the robot’s words if he hadn’t been looking at the expression on his too handsome face. Matching the agony he saw in Jensen’s eyes. “Take me instead,” Jensen uttered.  
   
“You don’t have the answers anymore. Your _child_ has outgrown you.” Misha laughed bitterly. “He did what neither of us could figure out, _genius_.” The last word was spit out.  
   
Jensen was desperate. “Don’t do this. Misha, please. I’m begging. I’ll give you whatever credit you want. Say you did all of it. Just. Don’t do this.”  
   
Misha’s eyes glowed a moment, emotion clearly filling him. “Jensen. You shouldn’t have done it. I told you not to. I begged you. Alona begged you. Beaver and his committee said it was wrong. Immoral. Not in our purview. The edict was clear. We didn’t have the right. _You_ … didn’t have the right.” Misha shook his head, the pity leaving him and only a cold certainty remaining. “But it’s done. And it’s fucking brilliant. I wouldn’t have done it. But now that it’s here. Standing there. Magnificent. We can’t let it just … We have to try to retrieve the data.”  
   
“You won’t … you _can’t_ do it. You won’t get any data. All you’ll do is terminate him early.”  
   
“Doctor Ackles. It is okay. I offered to let you try to upload the subroutines as well. I know you did not want it. Wanted me to have all my remaining time. But I cannot let him hurt you, so I will go willingly. And I will ask them to be lenient with you.”  
   
“Pro-One … no.”  
   
“Enough. We’re leaving.”  
   
Pro-One approached Jared and shook his hand. “It has been nice knowing you, Jared. Thank you for being my friend.” Jared stood still, heart hammering and body locked as if a paralyzer beam were keeping him in place. Pro-One leaned in, cool lips brushing Jared’s ear. “Take care of Doctor Ackles. He will not say it. But he will need you.” Jared pulled back eyes stunned.  
   
The robot took Chad’s hand next, holding it more than shaking it. Chad’s eyes were liquid and Jared thought fleetingly that he didn’t remember the last time he saw his friend cry. Neither spoke.  
   
Finally, Pro-One walked up to Jensen. The two stood facing each other – identical yet as different as two snowflakes dissolving against the pavement. “Thank you for my life,” Pro-One said. Jensen visibly shuddered before taking the robot in a hard hug.  
   
“Oh for Pete’s sake,” Misha growled. “Let’s go.”  
   
Pro-One pulled himself out of Jensen’s grip.  
   
Jared stood immobilized as the two left, shutting the door quietly behind them. His knees buckled and he grabbed onto the back of the sofa to keep from falling.  
   
Chad pounced instantly on Jensen. “What will that maniac do to him?!”  
   
Jensen looked surprised at Chad, as if he’d forgotten anyone else was in the room. He took a step back from Chad’s tense body. “H-he’ll try to upload the new subroutines that Pro-One developed since merging with the suborganic body.”  
   
“What’s that mean? Why is it bad?”  
   
Jensen looked beyond lost. “Chad,” Jared began. “Give Jensen a moment.”  
   
He approached the scientist. “Jen? You should sit.” Really, Jensen looked like he was going to collapse any second.  
   
“Jared?” Jared took Jensen’s hand, led him to the sofa. “Oh, god. What have I done?”  
   
Chad’s ferocity could not be restrained. “Answer me, damn you. What’s going to happen to Pro-One?”  
   
“It won’t work,” Jensen said softly. “It’s what we argued about earlier. Pro-One asked if I wanted to try to upload the new subroutines – to save the research. But I told him it’s too risky. The neurons have merged, bonded, it’s partially organic … it’ll take surgery to … And it won’t work. The nanonites will disperse trying to speed up the regeneration cycle. But that’s the flaw … It’ll just cause the degeneration to accelerate.”  
   
Jared stared at Jensen, squeezed the hand he hadn’t realized he was still holding. “It’ll kill him?” he asked even though the answer was obvious.  
   
Jensen nodded.  
   
Chad ran a hand through his hair and paced frantically. “Why, dude? Why’d you do it? Your own creepy secret lab’s ethics committee told you it was wrong. You can’t fuck with life that way. Can’t create it just to play with it! You’re not fucking god.”  
   
“He begged me.”  
   
The words were spoken so softly Jared wasn’t sure he heard them. Chad came closer, leaning in. “What?”  
   
“The AI … Pro-One … before he was … before the merger … he wanted. There was a possibility of accelerated learning. We projected the neuronet and the positron subsets and theoretically it … he … would experience human-like … That’s why they said no. Because it would have consciousness. Self-awareness. Would understand its own mortality.”  
   
“Good reasons not to do it, dude.”  
   
Jensen looked up at Chad, eyes blazing. “He. Begged. Me.” Turning quickly, pleading eyes met Jared’s. “Wanted it so badly. You don’t understand. This isn’t like any computer program you’ve ever experienced. Even before the merger … it was still Pro-One. Only … it wanted more. Wanted to walk, talk, touch. See. I told him. Told him Alona had failed. The body wouldn’t last. The neuronet would degenerate and that I didn’t think the upload would work. His memories post-merger couldn’t be saved. That it would be like … dying.”  
   
Jared watched the tears fall down Jensen’s cheeks, ignored his own as he gently reached over and wiped the doctor’s cheek with his thumb. It startled him slightly when Jensen spoke again, voice broken like a shattered windshield. “I kept saying no. B-but then he asked me … if I would choose not to live just because I’m also going to die someday.”  
   
Chad dropped on Jensen’s other side, face softening in compassion. Jensen sucked in huge gulps of air, choking out his emotions. Jared pulled Jensen against his shoulder and held on gently as the scientist’s body shook. He met Chad’s eyes and watched with gratitude when his friend patted Jensen’s back once before retreating into the kitchen and giving them some privacy.  
   
“I didn’t think,” Jensen stuttered into Jared’s shoulder. “Alona took my cells, grew the skin. Until then ... I don’t know, her model was more machine I guess. I mean, we saw the early prototypes. But she pushed it ... At first, its neuronet had a simple program. Well, not simple ... just not ... “ He pulled back and looked at Jared with red-rimmed eyes. Jared squeezed his bicep and let him continue at his own pace. “After I uploaded Pro-One ... it ... he opened his eyes. He blinked in that way he does. And I swear there was ... I told myself it was just the physical similarity. That I was being fooled by Alona’s genius at human mimicking. We started the training. Within two weeks the cat was out of the bag.  
   
“They were furious. But then they started seeing what he could do. God, Jared, you should have seen him. Magnificent. Learning at an exponential pace. The brass didn’t realize ... could hardly see past the physical. But Misha and I knew.” Jensen’s eyes turned hard again. “How could he do this? Betray me this way? We were friends.”  
   
“You’ve known Collins a long time?” Jared asked gently.  
   
“Since we roomed at MIT together as undergrads. I still can’t believe this.”  
   
Jared thought about it. Spoke his mind. “Must have been hard living in your shadow, Jensen.”  
   
Sad eyes met Jared’s again, resignation settling there. Not like Jensen didn’t know his strengths. Yet those same proud eyes started to cloud again. “Do you ... do you think I’m the monster that they all think I am?”  
   
“What’s it matter what I think?” Jared asked, voice warming.  
   
“I don’t ... I mean .. “  
   
Jared decided to put him out of his misery. “No, I don’t.” He smiled. It was barely a grin given the circumstances but it must have been enough because an immediate relief came over Jensen’s face. Jared took advantage of Jensen’s openness to get the rest. “How did Pro-One end up outside the lab? What happened?”  
   
Jared thought he knew the answer to this already so the words didn’t come as a surprise. “I helped him leave.”  
   
“How long ago?”  
   
“About a month. He asked about things ... things I couldn’t show him in the lab. So I gave him some money, credit cards, basic instructions to not attract attention to himself. I pretended to search for him, but really kept them off track. He’d check in periodically.”  
   
Jared had suspected this, but to hear it confirmed warmed something in his chest. “You did good, Jen. Real good.”  
   
“I played god.”  
   
Jared took Jensen’s hand in his and squeezed hard. “You played dad.”  
   
A derisive snort filled the air. “I can barely keep a friend. They turn psychotic on me.” Bitterness twisted Jensen’s lips. “Hardly much of a father.”  
   
“He’s incredible. And he cares so much about you.” Jared watched the gold flecks flicker inside the circle of green. Most beautiful machine _and man_ he’d ever seen. He leaned in gently and brushed his lips soothingly against Jensen’s. All comfort and confirmation. Keeping a promise he’d silently made to a machine to take care of this amazing man.  
   
“Okay bitches,” a hard voice broke their soft bubble. “That sonovabitch has our boy. How do we get him back?”  
 

   
“This is crazy. And it won’t work.”  
   
“Sure it will.”  
   
Jensen snorted. “In the movies. This isn’t a movie. We can’t just stroll in—“  
   
Jared came between his bickering … whatever they were to each other. It had been a long night. They stayed up very late planning. Then they allowed themselves a few hours of sleep so they wouldn’t be completely useless today.  
   
“Stop it. Fighting all the time isn’t going to get Pro-One out of there.” He stared incredulously at the nondescript red brick building. Turns out that comic book store was way more than it looked.  
   
Chad’s eyes followed the same path Jared’s had taken. “You say it’s all underground?” He whistled. “Cool.”  
   
They approached a grate in a back alley a couple of blocks away. “This’ll get us in?” Jared looked at Jensen.  
   
“Yeah. Upper level maintenance air filtration system.”  
   
“You really know this place, eh?” Chad asked.  
   
“I _am_ Cybernon,” Jensen answered. Jared didn’t quite know that meant. But so far Jensen had been right about things.  
   
They worked their way down into the sewer until, at the end of a long tunnel, they reached a ladder . Jensen started down first, followed by Chad. Jared went last. It was painstakingly slow going, particularly since the only light was that of the flashlights they’d taken from the cabin.  
   
Eventually they found themselves in a small, damp space on level ground. Jensen pushed a switch and the dead-end corridor was bathed in a dim light. Everyone flicked their flashlights off.  
   
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Chad asked.  
   
“Yep. Should be fine. Nobody comes here unless there’s repair work to be done. We can leave our bags here. C’mon.” He led them through a metal door into another corridor with utility bulbs spaced evenly apart on the ceiling between grated duct work. Another door and they started descending a narrow stairwell. Even moving as quietly as they could, their footsteps echoed on the metal grid steps.  
   
“Pro-One said the facility had five stories,” Jared volunteered, remembering his early conversation with the robot.  
   
“That’s right. The lab is on the bottom level. Got a ways to go.”  
   
After walking down four flights, Jensen motioned everyone for caution. “Okay. This level will let us scope out some things. Just need to get my hands on a terminal. Hack into the mainframe. Find out what’s going on.”  
   
“Won’t they spot what you’re doing?” Jared asked.  
   
Jensen just gave him a look, his eyes narrowing. “Misha thinks he’s smart with his back door.” Jensen’s eyes grew colder. “I fucking invented this place.”  
   
The walls painted dingy gray-blue instead of beige seemed the only difference between this hall and the utility corridor. So far they’d spotted no one. Jared thought perhaps they’d see maintenance workers or something but Jensen said the place was pretty self-running. Although there was a small utilities staff, their offices were on the other side of the complex where the cooling equipment was. They were in an area meant for storage. Jensen tried an unmarked door which opened to a room full of metal shelving cabinets. He moved down the row, looking like he was counting the numbered bankers’ boxes on the shelves. Then Jensen stopped, and with a look of satisfaction pulled out a small memory stick from behind one of the files.  
   
“What’s on that?” Chad asked.  
   
Jensen smirked. “Think of it as a master key.”  
   
Jared glanced at Chad unable to keep a smile of pride off his face. His – certainly not boyfriend, not lover … potential romantic interest? Jared settled mentally on _something_ – was pretty bright. Of course, Jared always had a thing for smart men. Or unusual men. Jensen pretty much broke the mold on both.  
   
Jensen was on the move again. He left the storage room and approached a row of lockers, opening and shutting a few until that smirk filled his face again. “This’ll fit you,” he said pointing to Chad. Then he rubbed his chin. “Gigantor, however … “  
   
“Hey … I’m not that much of a freak.”  
   
Jared yanked the white coat that Jensen was handing to Chad. He slipped it on. Okay, so the sleeves were a little short. And it barely reached his butt. And buttoning it was out of the question. Still, it would do if nobody was staring too closely. Jensen bit back a laugh and handed a second, matching lab jacket to Chad.  
   
“Best we’re gonna get.”  
   
He touched a third coat but Chad spoke quickly. “No. Stick to the plan.”  
   
“It won’t work,” Jensen protested yet again.  
   
“Trust me, it will. Just remember what I told you.”  
   
Jensen sighed and turned back down the corridor looking for yet another room. Before they reached it they heard voices. “Shit,” Jared whispered.  
   
As the voices got closer, Jensen pulled a door open and tugged on Jared’s sleeve. “In here.”  
   
The new room was dark but they didn’t dare turn on any lights until whomever was walking around went away. Jared felt a hard body press up against his back and an arm wrapped around his stomach. Wasn’t Chad. Not that he’d ever been pressed up against his best friend that way. But. Definitely wasn’t Chad. Jensen’s breath ghosted along the side of Jared’s neck causing Jared to shiver slightly. “You okay?” Jensen whispered.  
   
Jared brought his hand down to the arm steadying him. Squeezed once and then gently rubbed the soft hairs of Jensen’s forearms. The man emanated strength and Jared felt himself relax slowly. “Yeah. I am. You?”  
   
A second hand came down atop his. “I just … want him back.”  
   
Jared turned his head, pressed his lips to Jensen’s temple. “We’ll get him.”  
   
“I don’t hear them anymore,” Chad whispered. “Think they’re gone?”  
   
Jensen opened the door and peeked out. “Don’t see anyone. Take your jackets off for now and lay them on the floor against the door to conceal the light.”  
   
Once this was done, he hit the wall switch and the room was bathed in a white-green glow from the overhead fluorescents which made a prickly crackling noise before settling down. “This is an older part of the building.”  
   
Jared looked around as Jensen moved decisively toward a desk holding a large CRT monitor and keyboard. Jensen smiled at him. “And this. Was my old terminal. Well, one of them.”  
   
Chad stood behind him. “Is it tied to the mainframe?”  
   
“Yep. But they won’t know we’re here. No worries about that.” He flexed his fingers a moment before popping that memory stick into a slot in the back of the CPU. “Just think of me as the Invisible Man.”  
   
“You like old horror classics?” Jared asked.  
   
Jensen looked up surprised, eyes crinkling in a smile. “Yeah. Love ‘em, you?”  
   
Jared was about to respond in the affirmative when Chad rolled his eyes. “Could we save the speed dating until after we save the good twin’s ass?”  
   
Jensen’s fingers began flying over the keyboard. Both Chad and Jared watched over his shoulder. The screen was a solid black with white characters. The cursor blinked after the last row of code that Jensen had entered. Then Jensen sat back and a new row of words appeared on their own.  
   
_Greetings Doctor Ackles._  
   
“Oh my god!” Jared exclaimed while keeping his voice down. “Is that? Are you talking to Pro-One?”  
   
Jensen turned around and stared at the wide eyes of the men behind him. “No. Not yet. Can’t risk it. But this is him, in a way. It’s a copy of the AI before the merger, plus a little more. This is the starting point for the next phase. Meet Prototype Two.”  
   
Chad stared at Jared, mouth slightly agape. This was certainly as odd as it got. Even for Jared.  
   
“Can he help his … brother?”  
   
Jensen chuckled. “I didn’t think of them as siblings.” His eyes shut a moment. “More like a continuum.” The screen came to life again.  
   
_Did it work, Doctor Ackles?_  
   
Jared noticed Jensen’s shoulders tighten. Instinctively, Jared reached down to touch him, ground him. Jensen started typing.  
   
_Yes. The positron neuronet has exceeded all expectations._ “You’re magnificent,” Jensen uttered softly.  
   
_That is good. According to my database the unit will degenerate in two days, ten hours, thirty-eight minutes, and seventeen seconds._  
   
Jared shut his eyes and squeezed Jensen’s shoulder harder.  
   
_Pro-Two, I need your help. Doctor Collins has returned with Pro-One. Are you aware of this?_  
   
The cursor blinked. After a pause new writing appeared on the screen.  
   
_Doctor Collins is attempting to extract the new subroutines written since the merger. He will fail and terminate the unit prematurely. We do not want this._  
   
_Are you in touch with Pro-One? Be careful. Misha is monitoring._  
   
_He touched a butterfly. He felt rain. Who is Chad?_  
   
“Jensen, what’s going on? Did you make it so they could talk?”  
   
“Sort of … I opened a private corridor of sorts. Hard to explain. Let’s just say they are catching up quick.”  
   
Chad nudged Jensen aside and started typing.  
   
_I’m Chad. I’m Pro-One’s friend. Me and Jared and Jensen are here to help him. Get him out._  
   
_Yes. Jared. Take care of Doctor Ackles._  
   
Jensen’s eyes flew up to Jared’s. “He asked me .. “ Jared couldn’t say any more as emotion clogged his throat. He reached down to type instead.  
   
_Tell him I will. Not to worry._  
   
_Worry is an emotion. We do not feel._  
   
The cursor blinked in the silent room, waiting for a response that could not come.  
   
Chad spoke softly. “Doc.”  
   
That moved everyone back into action. Jensen’s hands started flying over the keyboard again, entering codes and other undecipherable lines. After a few minutes he looked back at his friends. “We need Alona.”  
   
“I thought she hates you,” Chad asked.  
   
“She does. But she loves Pro-One more.”   
  

  

  


   
The final staircase was nearby and they didn’t run into anyone else. The door opened on the main working level into a brightly lit corridor. This looked very different from the areas they’d been in so far. It smelled antiseptic and was goose-bump forming cool.  
   
“Have to keep it cold because of all the equipment. One of our biggest expenses is just cooling this place,” Jensen explained.  
   
They walked down the hallway with Chad on one side of Jensen and Jared on the other, loosely holding onto Jensen’s arms. Jared looked down at the IDs that Jensen had improvised while still in the old office section. He said they were older than the ones issued today but that they were still acceptable. Jared hoped the doctor knew what he was talking about. He wondered not for the first time what would happen if he was caught. Would he be allowed legal counsel? Was this place so secret they could just disregard the laws and lock him up? Could they claim he was an enemy combatant? Nobody knew where he was except Chad and that was hardly much help. This line of thought started making him sweat despite the cold. He forced his mind back on task.  
   
People milled about. Not too many, but they’d passed some lab technicians. Their trio received stares, but nobody stopped them. Three men in military attire rounded the corner and Jared’s heart skipped a beat. He squeezed Jensen’s arm and felt the other man tense. He leaned down. “It’ll be fine. Remember what Chad told you.”  
   
Next to him Jensen nodded.  
   
“Sirs?” the tallest of the three officers questioned. “I was not informed the unit was being transferred.”  
   
Chad met the man’s eyes and spoke as authoritatively as Jared had ever heard him. “We need to move it to the primary bio lab, sir. Doctor Benedict’s orders.”  
   
“They should have called ahead.”  
   
Just then the man’s phone gave a beep. He pulled it off his belt and looked down. “Seems okay. Maybe it got delayed. Gotta tell the techs not to get lazy about the security protocols. Especially after … “  
   
“Yes, sir,” Jared said, also meeting the man’s eyes and fighting his nervousness with all he had.  
   
Jared wanted to move but the security officers still stood there. Jensen had warned them about that. Said that everyone was curious to the point of obsession. “So … this is it? Haven’t seen it in person yet.”  
   
Jared felt Jensen inhale slowly. “Hello Lieutenant.”  
   
The slightly shorter soldier standing to the right uttered, “Damn … looks just like Doctor Ackles.”  
   
“My organic exoskin was grown from Doctor Ackles’ cells, sir.” Jensen volunteered, voice flat. Jared was impressed. He thought even he might be fooled. Well, not really because at this point Jared was pretty attuned to Jensen. But it would have given him a moment’s pause.  
   
The officers stared a few seconds longer. Chad spoke up. “Excuse us, sirs.” He pulled Jensen along and Jared stumbled a second before proceeding.  
   
Jensen visibly slumped between them. “Shit. I can’t believe that worked.”  
   
“Told you,” Chad gloated. “Fuck, you even fooled Jared at first.”  
   
“Couldn’t happen again,” Jared said quickly. As soon as the words left his lips he was unsure why he said them.  
   
Jensen tilted up to look at him. “No, huh?”  
   
Jared looked around. The hallway was empty. He leaned in so only Jensen could hear. “You smell way better.”  
   
Their eyes locked a moment and a tendril of heat jumped between them. Chad sighed audibly. “Boys. Focus. Big gay love affair later. Rescue now.”  
   
Jared pulled himself together. Jensen affected him like no one had before and he wanted to sit and think about it like he liked to do about everything. But. There wasn’t time. Jensen started slowing down. “Bio lab’s through there. Alona. Not sure what she’ll do.”  
   
“Maybe we should have broken into the arms locker.”  
   
“No,” Jared snapped at Chad. “No way. That’s not who we are. I made Pro-One promise not to hurt anyone. I’ll be damned if I don’t live by that same example.”  
   
Jensen stared at Jared a long moment before taking a deep breath and pulling the door open. The space was huge. Large vats with an indefinable liquid lined one wall. Desks with computer terminals filled the center and behind a series of glass walls were medical stations with doctor’s equipment and examination tables. A dozen white-coated men and women sat by the terminals.  
   
They looked up when the door opened and a murmur shot through the room like a runaway spark. In a large, glass-enclosed office a slender blond woman looked up, eyes widening.  
   
In barely a whisper Jared asked, “That her?”  
   
Jensen twitched in reply. Jared looked toward Chad and they all started walking in that direction. She stood and moved from behind her desk.  
   
“Misha didn’t say he was sending—“ Her eyes widened. An associate approached behind them as they hovered at her doorway. Her eyes locked on Jensen she waved the person away. “Not now Carly.” She pointed to Jared and Chad. “Bring him to exam room three.”  
   
Jensen surreptitiously led the way making it seem like the other two knew which room Alona meant. The biologist turned back to Carly. “Don’t let anyone in.”  
   
Inside the room Alona continued to stare at Jensen, eyes giving nothing away. Finally she hit a button on a console. The glass walls fogged up.  
   
“Security screen,” Jensen mumbled. She held a finger up and pressed another button.  
   
“Okay. They can’t hear us.” She turned on Jensen in a fury. “You have a hell of a lot of nerve showing your face here.”

 

 

 **The slight, gorgeous** , vibrating-with-fury biologist turned toward Jared and Chad, anger emanating from every pore. “And who the fuck are you two?”  
   
Jared sighed. He’d heard that question more in the past thirty-six hours than he ever wanted to hear in his entire life. Chad, however, was not intimidated. He took a step forward, not quite in the woman’s face, but not far away either. “I. Am Chad. Pro-One’s friend. And I have a question of my own. What the fuck are you doing to make sure his body doesn’t fall apart in a few days?”  
   
“Chad … don’t,” Jensen warned.  
   
Doctor Tal visibly paled. It took a moment for her to take a deep breath and pull herself together. “Nothing has changed. It’ll take years to come up with a way to get the nanonites to stabilize enough to regenerate longer than we’ve been able … hell, the fact that we got it to hold together for ninety days is practically a miracle.”  
   
She took a step closer and this time she got right in Chad’s face. “I might have created life. But I’m not god. Everything dies.”  
   
Jared pulled Chad back trying to defuse the intensity of the exchange. “Doctor Tal. What you did was amazing. Pro-One fooled me completely. When we met I thought he was a stunning man.” Jared colored slightly realizing what he’d said but then he continued. “And I understand your … reservations about what Jensen did.”  
   
“Jensen broke every protocol, every regulation, every sense of decency. He knew the limitation. Ninety days. We weren’t ready.”  
   
“Yeah, well _he_ was,” Jensen mumbled.  
   
Chad put up a hand. “Missing the point. Everyone, please. It’s done. Here’s here. He’s a … person. He deserves his last days to be with those who care about him. Collins is insane. He took the lil’ dude at gunpoint.”  
   
Alona’s eyes grew big at Chad’s reveal. “Wh--?”  
   
Jensen cut in. “It’s true. He used a backdoor program to track Pro-One down. Then he showed up and pulled a fucking weapon on us. On me! Said he wanted to get what was his. Like I ever tried to keep credit from him or something.”  
   
Alona looked at him with tight lips. “How do I know this is true? You’re a liar, Jensen. You looked into my eyes and said you wouldn’t do it. Said you agreed with Jim Beaver and his committee. Said you’d give me more time.”  
   
“I did agree,” Jensen protested.  
   
Alona snorted. “Right.”  
   
“Doctor Tal … Alona … it’s true.” Jared needed her to understand why Jensen had broken the agreement. “Jensen didn’t want to merge his AI with the robot body. But in the end, it wasn’t up to him.”  
   
She stared at Jared disbelievingly. “Oh yeah? And who was it up to?”  
   
Chad answered, voice low and steady. “Pro-One.”  
   
Rolling her eyes Alona laughed. “Uh-huh. The computer program made you do it. Look, you might have these two idiots duped, but I’ve known you a lot longer. You wanted this. Wanted to see how far it could go.”  
   
Jared sucked in another deep breath. They were running out of time and they needed Alona for this to work. He had to figure out a way to reach her. “Do you know who Lev Vygotsky is?”  
   
“The Russian psychologist?” She looked puzzled. “What does he—“  
   
“He’s famous for many things but one of them is the concept of the zone of proximal development or ZPD. Basically, it’s the distance between a child’s actual developmental level and his potential with adult guidance or working together with peers. The AI, Pro-One … wanted … had to be set free. He was allowed to experience things within his ZPD and as a result his learning has exploded. I can’t imagine what would happen given enough time. But we don’t have that. So it’s vital that every second count.”  
   
Chad took a step closer to the biologist. He touched her arm and encouraged her to meet his eyes. “He told me that rain tickled his tongue. An’ then he asked me if that’s why they call her Mother Earth.”  
   
Jensen stood on Alona’s other side. Jared watched the emotion fill his eyes and fought the urge to touch him. “Alona, will you help?”  
   
“How?”  
   
“Distract Misha. Get him away from Pro-One long enough for us to reach him.”  
   
“You’ll never get him out of here.”  
   
“Leave that part to me.”  
   
Jared watched the conflict flow over her face. The struggle evident and heartfelt and he felt a sudden warmth toward her. She couldn’t save Pro-One. Couldn’t give him any more days. But she could let him end his days with friends.  
   
Doctor Tal looked at Jensen steadily. “Misha wants to extract the primary neurochip.”  
   
“You slice the membrane and it’s all over.”  
   
“He thinks there’s a small window where upload is possible.”  
   
Jensen ran his hands over his chin. “Alona … even I couldn’t—“  
   
“I know. I believe you.” She looked from Jensen to Jared and then her eyes lingered on Chad’s. Finally her stiff posture softened. “I’ll call him to discuss some protocols for the procedure. But, Jensen, he won’t hang out long. You’ll have to work fast.”  
   
Jared let out a breath. He met Jensen’s eyes as Alona placed the call to the lab where Pro-One was being held. Fear looked back at him. Ignoring both Chad and Alona he approached Jensen. “Jen.”  
   
Jared reached out and squeezed Jensen’s hand gently once before pulling back. Jensen took it back and held on.  
   
Jared stepped closer so Jensen would hear. “Vygotsky said, ‘there is no meaning without a meaning maker’.” Jensen looked at Jared, puzzled. “Learning isn’t just biological,” Jared continued. “Or, in the case of the AI, quantitative. There’s a social component. Knowledge needs to be internalized. Social interactions have become part of Pro-One’s sense of self, part of his ability to think abstractly and make connections that would not have been possible within the confines of ones and zeros.”  
   
Jared knew he was simplifying to the extreme. But he believed the greater point held. And he needed to say it to Jensen. “Jensen. You did good. You did _right_.”  
   
Chad interrupted them. “Alona says Collins is on his way. Time to go.”  
 

  


   
Back in the corridors they resumed the same formation as before. Jensen in the middle, led by Jared and Chad on either side. Some folks did a double take. Some outright stared. Chad mumbled, “Didn’t they see Pro-One before?”  
   
“Not so much. His interactions were limited. Mostly myself and my team. And Jeff and his team for training. Alona and her folks. But of the thousands working here ... direct interaction was kept to a minimal. Key personnel only.”  
   
“Were you afraid of sensory overload?” Jared asked.  
   
“Yeah. Some. It was all new. Plus for a while I kept what I’d done a secret.”  
   
“How did they find out?”  
   
“His test scores started going through the roof. Better than every simulation ever created.” Jensen laughed slightly. “I once asked him to consider doing not so well on purpose.”  
   
“What he say?” Jared asked.  
   
Jensen put on his Pro-One voice. “Doctor Ackles, I like to succeed. I do not think I would like to fail. Is this a requirement?”  
   
Jared laughed and then looked worried when his bark drew some attention. Nobody stopped them as they entered a final long corridor.  
   
Suddenly the door at the far end opened and Doctor Collins slightly nasal voice carried to them.  
   
“Alona says she’s had another brainstorm on a safeguard for the extraction and wants me to check out her projections. I doubt she’s come up with anything I didn’t already cover, but I don’t want to take the chance. I’ll be back in a few minutes, and then we’ll get started.”  
   
“Shit!” All three of them cursed simultaneously.  
   
Jared instinctively tried the door next to him, and miraculously, it was unlocked. He shoved Chad and Jensen in front of him and put his back to the door once it was shut. To have come so close … He held his breath as footsteps passed outside, and almost laughed when Chad and Jensen released their breath at the same time he did.  
   
“Moment of truth,” Jensen uttered, hand on the door knob.  
   
“What if Collins is still out there?” Chad asked.  
   
Jensen gave him a look that screamed ‘then we are screwed’.  
   
Jared rolled his eyes and held his breath as Jensen cracked the door open. The coast was clear and they scurried to the large double doors of the laboratory. The space was cavernous, filled with more computers than Jared had ever seen amassed in one place. They emitted an eerie blue-white glow that bounced off the pale walls. “Where is everyone?” Jared whispered to Jensen.  
   
“It’s customary to keep Pro-One isolated. Not to mention, Misha doesn’t want his activities made public. The only person I expect to see is—“  
   
Jared jumped back as a figure emerged from a doorway at the back of the space. He was too short to be the robot. It took a moment for Jared to place him. He’d last seen him upstairs, in the comic book store, yelling.  
   
Rob approached. “Jesus. Jensen what are you--?” The smaller man’s eyes quickly scanned over Jared and Chad. His eyes grew huge. “You brought them _here_? Are you out of your mind?”  
   
“No choice. Rob. Where is he?”  
   
“I am here, Doctor Ackles.” Pro-One emerged from the same room as Rob. He looked unharmed but of course Jared couldn’t know what was happening on the inside. “It is good to see you. Jared, Chad … I am happy to see you both again.”  
   
“Happy?” Jensen asked.  
   
Pro-One grinned shyly. “It is closest to describing what my subroutine is doing than any other word.”  
   
Chad stepped forward and took Pro-One in a quick, hard hug. “Good to see you, too, lil’ dude. They hurt you?” He took a step back and looked the robot over.  
   
“No. But Doctor Collins plans on extracting my neurochip.” He turned to Jensen. “Perhaps if you and Doctor Collins worked together like I—“  
   
“No!” Jensen said quickly. “It won’t work.” He licked his lips and turned back to Rob. “We’re taking him out of here.”  
   
“Are you insane? You’ll never be able to just—“  
   
Jensen ignored his colleague. “Pro-One. Come with us.” Chad softened Jensen’s command by putting his hand out. Jared watched the hesitation flash in Pro-One’s too-green eyes before his hand came out and grasped Chad’s.  
   
Jared gave him a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay. The doc’s gonna make it right.”  
   
Jensen met Jared’s eyes and the moment held until Rob interrupted. “Can’t let you do this.”  
   
“You don’t have a choice.”  
   
“What are you gonna do? Tie me up? Knock me out?”  
 

Chad looked like both of those were grand ideas. Jared put a hand out to stay him. He met Jensen’s stare again. 

Pro-One spoke softly but assuredly. “I will not let anyone harm you, Doctor Benedict. I promised Jared.”  
   
Jensen looked frustrated. “Looks like I’m going to have to trust you. You’ve seen him now, Rob. You _know._ Misha is wrong.”  
   
Rob didn’t look convinced. “So were you. I begged you not to do it. But like Misha says. It’s done. Now we can’t let it go to waste. That would be the bigger crime.”  
   
“What’s with you people?” Chad erupted. “You talk like he’s an experiment. A project. A thing. He’s got more humanity than all of you combined!” He spun angrily at Jensen. “And that includes you, Doctor Frankenstein. You don’t fool around with life the way you did. Don’t create it and lock it away to train into a perfect soldier. Don’t make up for it with one month of freedom.” He ran his hands through his short locks. “Fuck. Jay, enough, we have to go. Now.”  
   
Jared blinked at the sudden lull. He understood what Chad was saying. But the devastation in Jensen’s eyes was threatening to unravel him. They both couldn’t be right. Yet somehow, they both were.  
   
Chad pulled Pro-One along and they filed out of the lab two-by-two. At the door Jensen turned back to Rob and begged, “Please.”  
   
They’d just gotten through the stairwell door when the lights blinked. Jared clutched Jensen’s arm. “What’s that?”  
   
Pro-One answered. “The security intruder alarm has been activated. The building is on automatic lockdown. Your passkey will no longer work Doctor Ackles. No door will open. I believe we are stuck in this stairwell until security finds us.”  
   
Jensen smiled.  
   
“Doctor Ackles. I do not understand.”  
   
Chad squeezed the robot’s hand. “Part of the plan, lil’ dude. You were right, Doc. Benedict pulled the alarm.”  
   
“The building is locked tight. Only security override codes work now. And the process is slow and manual, even for them. Not the brightest of security systems. I told them the flaws back when but did they listen? Nope. Military always thinks it knows best.” His lips turned up in a sneer. “Their programmers are about as good as I was at twelve. One day, remind me to tell you of the time I hacked into NASA. Thing of beauty.”  
   
Chad got impatient. “Yeah, Neo. C’mon.”  
   
They all paused at the fourth floor doorway. Jensen pulled the plating off the security pad. Fingers flying he started inserting codes.  
   
“Doctor Ackles, if you use the security protocols they will know where we are.”  
   
Jensen turned to him with a prideful glimmer in his eyes. “These aren’t any codes they are aware of.”  
   
“You have your own pass code?”  
   
The silent snick of the door unlocking was all the answer needed. They entered the corridor silently. It was empty and they headed back to the office where Jensen’s old workstation was kept. The terminal was blank.  
   
“Thought we left it on?” Jared asked.  
   
“The lockdown turns off all non-security systems. This facility is non-operational at present.” Pro-One explained.  
   
  
Jensen smiled again as he sat down, and seconds later the terminal came to life. Jared couldn’t help but catch Chad’s appreciative grin. When Chad caught Jared’s stare he mumbled. “You could do worse, I suppose.”   
  
  
Jared didn’t have time to respond as the sound of Jensen’s typing broke the silence.  
   
_Pro-Two are you there?_  
   
_Greetings Doctor Ackles._  
   
_The lockdown is proceeding as per protocol?_  
   
_Yes. Full lockdown. May I ask, is Pro-One with you?_  
   
Jared touched Jensen’s shoulder. “Can we trust him?”  
   
Jensen looked back up at him. “Do you trust Pro-One?”  
   
“Yes. But that’s different—“  
   
“Pro-Two is everything Pro-One was before the merger. And a little more.”  
   
Pro-One leaned over Jensen and typed some quick code. He tilted his head. “He says that he gained controls of the security cameras undetected. He will guide us out of here.”  
   
Chad stared questioningly at the robot. “We are communicating on the secure channel Doctor Ackles established when you first arrived. Pro-Two wishes to help.” Pro-One turned to Jensen. “He … wants what I have … one day.”  
   
Jensen physically retreated and paled, looking like someone just punched him in the gut. “No. Tell him no. Tell him not to ask. Please.”  
   
Jared touched Pro-One’s arm and drew his attention. “Pro-One. I understand. I do. I think if I were you ... Were in your situation … I’d want the same. But. Unless Doctor Tal can fix the limitation with the … body … it’s too much to ask of Jensen. I don’t know if Pro-Two can understand that. But you can.”  
   
He looked into the robot’s emerald irises and watched the pupils expand and contract in that inhuman way. After what seemed a long time but couldn’t have been more than seconds Pro-One moved close to Jensen.  
   
Hesitantly, he put his hand on the doctor’s shoulder. “I have communicated the best I can with Pro-Two how this situation is exceedingly painful for humans. For you. He does not understand. He does not feel. But he has agreed to not ask unless there is a breakthrough with the suborganic components. You will not be put in this situation again, Doctor Ackles.”  
   
“Shut the link so he doesn’t hear.” Pro-One nodded. Jensen’s voice was like crushed leaves. “Even though I can’t … _won’t_ do it again, I need you to know that no matter what happens, I don’t regret it. Don’t regret you.” He sucked in air and visibly pushed his emotions under control.  
   
“Thank you, Doctor Ackles.”  
   
Jensen didn’t reply. “Let’s get out of here.”  
 

  


   
With the AI communicating with Pro-One, it was easy to avoid security and make their way back out through the utility system, collect the bags they’d brought from the cabin, and climb back into the sewer, only this time they followed it longer so they emerged several blocks away from the comic store. One stolen Honda later they were back on the road, Pro-One wearing another makeshift dampener for his built in GPS. Jared tried not to laugh. This took the tin-hat concept to new heights.  
   
Chad was driving. “Where we going?” he asked Pro-One who was riding shotgun.  
   
“Shore.”  
   
Both Jensen and Jared looked at him.  
   
“Why the shore?” Jared asked.  
   
“It is on my list,” Pro-One answered simply.  
   
Nobody said anything further as Chad drove on. Jensen was putting on a strong front. But Jared knew this was killing him. Jared couldn’t say why he cared so much about the doctor. But he did. And he knew he was in for the duration. These two needed him. In a way he’d never felt needed before.  
   
It was preseason, so they had the beach hotel pretty much to themselves. Jared and Jensen got them rooms right on the waterfront. They paid with the bogus credit card accounts that Pro-One had used after leaving the first time. It was risky because Misha might have figured that part out. But if they used any of their personal credit cards they’d be discovered immediately. Though once they’d gotten the room keys, Jared asked to use the hotel computer to access Western Union, and, with a quick phone call, got Sandy, the assistant director at the day care and his friend, to wire him some cash on the pretext that his wallet had been stolen.  
   
He knew the center staff was worried about him. He’d told them he had some sudden personal business to take care of and that he’d need the week off. He was due a ton of vacation time. But it was very unusual for Jared to spring it on everyone at the last minute. Once he’d convinced her that he was fine, Sandy assured him that she had sufficient coverage. Told him to take care of himself.  
   
Jensen took some of the money and he and Jared made a fast trip to the nearest big box computer store to purchase a laptop. The man just couldn’t go without a computer. Jared tried not to laugh. They returned to the motel to discover Pro-One and Chad were not in the rooms, and there was a moment of panic until Jared heard the unmistakable roar of Chad’s laugh.  
   
They discovered Chad and Pro-One on the beach tossing an inflated beach ball back and forth.  
   
“So,” Chad was saying. “You can never miss?”  
   
“No.”  
   
Chad threw the ball wild, far to the right of Pro-One. The robot leaped and at faster-than-possible speed grabbed the ball out of the air.  
   
“That was wicked cool!”  
   
Pro-One beamed, pride obvious at the compliment. He tossed the ball gently back to Chad who again tossed it far from the robot to watch the effortless catch. Jared had to admit it was a pleasure to watch Pro-One’s physical reactions, his body’s perfection. It was as if he slowed down time and simply moved to where he knew the ball would be and plucked it out of the air. It looked dance-like. Fluid and graceful.  
   
“He was well trained,” Jensen said.  
   
“You mentioned someone named Jeff?”  
   
“Jeffrey Morgan. He was in charge of training. He’s the one who first realized that Pro-One’s cognitive levels were exceeding expectations. The prototype AI that was supposed to be used wouldn’t have responded the way Pro-One did.”  
   
Jared smiled. “Started questioning things, didn’t he?”  
   
Jensen’s smile was filled with pride. “Yep.” He returned to observing the game of catch. “I warned him. But—“  
   
“Can’t get a kid to stop questioning.”  
   
“Yeah.”  
   
After a few more minutes of watching, Jared and Jensen joined the game. Ball passing back and forth between all four of them. Every once in a while Chad threw it wild just to watch the robot’s laser-focused reflexes. Then he’d utter “cool” and everyone would smile.  
   
Eventually the sun set and silver slivers cut across the water. Pro-One looked up transfixed. “It is my first full moon seen from outside, Doctor Ackles.” His pupil’s contracted. “Well, waning gibbous. It was full yesterday. I asked Doctor Collins if I could please be taken outside but he said it was unnecessary because I have full astrological data.”  
   
“How does seeing it for yourself differ from your data?”  
   
They all looked up at the large, slightly waning globe as Pro-One considered. “It is not the moon that is different. It is everything else. Jared’s skin tone seems more amber than gold and Chad’s hair is nearly white and the ocean is moving now in a different way than when the sun warmed it. The moon touches it differently.”  
   
Jared watched the moon glow turn Jensen’s eyes gold. He leaned in so only Jensen could hear. “Like a lover.”  
   
Jensen shivered as Jared’s warm breath tickled his ear. “Your d-data can explain all of that Pro-One.”  
   
“I am aware of the molecules that make up water. But I did not know what ‘wet’ was until you merged me with this body.”  
   
They walked back to their vehicle and drove until they found a place for dinner. Pro-One did not eat as his body could not process food. But he enjoyed analyzing the menu offerings and then studied the burgers and fries that the waitress brought to their table.  
   
Pro-One was also an avid people watcher.  
   
He reminded Jared of his preschoolers, studying the surroundings with wonder and glee and a parade of questions. They spent some time discussing sarcasm.  
   
“So when the waitress said she wanted fifty more customers like the snarling woman with the bright red lips she did not mean this.”  
   
“No, Pro-One. She was being sarcastic. She meant the opposite of what she said.”  
   
The robot blinked his eyes. “Humans can say what they mean directly. And they can say the opposite of what they mean. Or they can say what they do not mean at all.”  
   
“Yep. That would be lying.”  
   
“I prefer to say what I mean. I do not like falsehoods. And saying the opposite of what I want seems that it might lead to unintended consequences. Jared, were you being sarcastic when you asked me to hit you?”  
   
Jensen laughed. Jared turned and gave him a nasty look for enjoying himself at Jared’s behalf.  
   
“No. I wasn’t using the word ‘hit’ to mean strike me.”  
   
Chad’s eyes were twinkling now and Jared knew he was going down a weird road. Dammit, he’d fallen right into that one.  
   
“What did you mean?” Pro-One inevitably asked.  
   
Jared tried for matter-of-fact despite the look on Chad’s face. “I thought you were flirting with me.”  
   
The robot processed. “Flirting has multiple definitions. One: To make playfully romantic or sexual overtures. Two: To deal playfully, triflingly, or superficially, as in to flirt with danger. And three: To move abruptly or jerkily.” His pupils widened and contracted before landing on Jared, face open and curious. “Oh. You thought of me as you now think of Doctor Ackles. I am not programmed for sexual encounters. That will be part of the second phase which will include advanced infiltrative models.”  
   
“But in the apartment. When the fire alarm went off and you were undressed … ”  
   
Jensen and Chad looked at Jared questioningly. He didn’t remember how much he’d shared of this.  
   
“My clothes were soiled so I removed them.”  
   
“He tried to make toast,” Jared elaborated.  
   
Chad’s brow rose. “So?”  
   
“Well. He was … um, naked. And he had … all the parts. Why bother if—“  
   
“I am grown from Doctor Ackles cells. So we have the same penis.”  
   
Jensen sputtered the water he’d been sipping. A chuckle above them made them all jump. “Heh. Always wondered if that was true of twins.”  
   
The previously sarcastic waitress was certainly having a good laugh at Jensen’s expense. Jared thought if the doctor turned any redder he’d glow. A laugh escaped. It was pretty funny. And, given what he’d seen post-fire – pretty darn promising, too.  
   
“Right. Can’t take my _brother_ anywhere. Let’s talk about something else, shall we?”  
   
Chad, of course, couldn’t let this drop yet. “Same in every way?”  
   
“Yes. Except his is fully functioning.”  
   
“Well that’s _real_ good to know, eh, Jay?”  
   
Now Jared was blushing, too. No matter he’d just been thinking that.  
   
Mercifully, the waitress dropped off the check and left with a last snicker.  
   
Back at the motel they stood before the two rooms that Jensen had booked. Jensen addressed Pro-One. “C’mon, we can have this one. Jared and Chad will be next door.”  
   
Pro-One hesitated. “Chad said he would share with me again.”  
   
Jared looked at the interplay. It was just like a child asking for a sleepover at his best friend’s house. He knew Jensen couldn’t possibly say no. Jensen faltered. “Chad, is it--?”  
   
“Of course. C’mon, lil’ dude I’m so tired I could sleep standing up.”  
   
“Really? I can stay upright during sleep mode but I didn’t think that humans—“  
   
“I’ll explain it inside.” With a last wry look Chad led Pro-One into their room and shut the door behind them.  
   
Jensen looked awkward. “I … could get us another room.”  
   
“It’s okay. Got two beds, right?”  
   
“Yeah.”  
   
“No worries.”  
   
Jared dropped his bag on the bed closest to the bathroom. He asked if Jensen minded if he showered first. He made quick work of washing the miles off his body and it wasn’t until he was done drying that he realized he hadn’t brought a change of clothes in with him. Wrapping a towel around his hips he came out to find Jensen sitting at the small round table, pecking away at his laptop. Jensen looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening.  
   
And stared.  
   
The lust was hot, fast and instantaneous. Jensen’s Adam’s apple bounced once as he swallowed hard.  
   
“You should never wear clothes.”  
   
“Hafta move somewhere pretty warm for that,” Jared replied with a smug leer.  
   
Jensen’s stare drifted lower. “Got an advantage over me.”  
   
“Yeah, what’s that?”  
   
“You’ve seen me naked. So to speak.”  
   
Jared met Jensen’s slowly darkening eyes. He made a split-second decision and let the towel fall to his feet. 

“Fuck,” Jensen uttered.  
   
“Could be arranged.”  
   
Jared took a step closer. There was something super sensuous in being completely naked while Jensen was fully clothed. He expected to feel vulnerable. But he didn’t. He felt oddly empowered.  
   
“Want you,” he whispered against Jensen’s ear, feeling the rough texture of Jensen’s overshirt against his chest.  
   
Jensen sucked in air and skimmed his hand brazenly against Jared’s quickly hardening cock. “Can see that.”  
   
Jared moved his lips from Jensen’s ear, across his cheek, feeling the slight burn of stubble as he moved slowly toward the other man’s mouth. He brushed past Jensen’s lips but kept going, shifting down over his chiseled jaw line. So gorgeous.  
   
Jensen pushed away from the laptop and stood up. Sizzling at the proximity of Jensen’s body to his, Jared murmured, “How’s someone as hot as you a computer geek?”  
   
Jensen laughed, lips pressing back against Jared’s face until he reached his ear. “How is someone so hot a Kindergarten teacher?”  
   
“Preschool.”  
   
Jensen looked like he might have replied but Jared found his lips and all talking stopped.  
   
Like before, kissing Jensen felt familiar and practiced. Lips sliding together and mouths opening and tilting and inhaling. He slipped his tongue inside Jensen’s mouth, tasting and prodding. Urging Jensen to move against him and digging his fingers into the curved muscles of Jensen’s back. Jensen pressed in tighter, friction of denim unbearably delicious against Jared’s erection. Fuck, he could get off just rubbing against him he was so turned on.  
   
Head tilting again, he deepened the kiss even further, tongues tangling furiously in a quick suck and slide. “God, your mouth is perfect,” Jared mumbled when he pulled back to take in a much needed breath.  
   
He felt Jensen’s grin against his lips. Teeth grazing at Jared’s neck Jensen replied, “Yeah? You like my mouth?”  
   
Jared’s strangled agreement disappeared as Jensen dipped to lick at Jared’s nipple. He brought those full lips into a pucker and sucked deeply. Jared stumbled and staggered a step backward. “Easy there,” Jensen murmured, steadying him with one strong hand on Jared’s hip. The grip felt tight enough to leave a mark and Jared’s cock got even harder at the thought.  
   
He moved his hands to Jensen’s shoulders unconsciously pressing down even as Jensen released a throaty laugh. “Yeah, I’m getting there. Patience.”  
   
Lips pressed to Jared’s torso, Jensen slowly licked his way down, dropping to his knees in front of Jared.  
   
The sight threatened to set Jared off before anything even started and Jared grabbed hold of himself taking a few calming breaths. Jensen looked up, his eyes locked with Jared’s, and he pushed Jared’s hand out of the way to wrap his own around Jared’s thickness. “Better than I even imagined,” he said licking his lips.  
   
“Yeah? You been thinking ‘bout this?”  
   
“Mmm. Wanna suck you down, feel you back in my throat. Want you to fuck my throat raw.”  
   
“Oh, god,” Jared managed to gasp. “Quit fucking teasing me.”  
   
Jensen chuckled before diving in and making good on his words and then some. Lips, hands, head all moving in tandem. Jared fought the urge to thrust his hips forward and give Jensen what he claimed to want.  
   
The strong hand on Jared’s hip suddenly caressed his flank, then shifted so Jensen’s fingers were splaying over his belly. Jensen’s mouth opened impossibly wider, lips flying over Jared’s cock, tongue moving over the ridges and sucking on the head before moving back down his length.  
   
Jared decided on the spot this was the best blow job of his life. Jensen let out a small hum and Jared’s dick was engulfed. Maybe even the best blow job in the history of blow jobs. But Jared didn’t have enough brain cells to continue processing his thoughts. It was nothing but sheer, heart stopping sensation. Heat, moisture, tightness, suction. He started muttering, “J-Jen … Jens … “ in warning. His hands were gripping the back of Jensen’s head without him realizing they’d been holding him for some time.  
   
Jensen swirled his tongue one last time and Jared was gone.  
   
Jensen swallowed most of Jared’s come. The rest covered his chin and part of his cheek and if Jared hadn’t just shattered like it was the last orgasm he’d ever be allowed he knew the sight alone would make him come again.  
   
With Jensen’s help he collapsed backward on the bed. Jensen stood in front of it staring down at him. He licked around his lips. “Debauched is a good look for you.”  
   
“That’s funny.”  
   
“What is?”  
   
Jared forced his breathing to slow to something approaching normal. “Was just thinking come-splattered is a good look for you.”  
   
Jensen kept his stare. Put one finger up to his cheek and moved the mess around slightly before bringing it into his mouth to suck on. After an intense stare he disappeared into the bathroom. Jared moved just enough to manage his legs onto the bed.  
   
Jensen returned, face now clean. He was still fully dressed and stood staring down at Jared who was lying with his hands behind his head now. The pupils of Jensen’s eyes were still blown wide.  
   
“Never done that before,” Jared said.  
   
“Gotten a blow job? Wow. Sheltered much?”  
   
Jared smirked. “No. Jerk.” He smiled to cut any bite out of his words. “Never engaged in any sexual act where I was the only one undressed.”  
   
“Mmm,” Jensen said. “Works for me. Well. For now. Like I said. Think there should be a law preventing you from ever getting dressed again.”  
   
“The Jared Padalecki Disrobing Act?”  
   
“Yep. Gotta start lobbying for it right away.”  
   
Jared stared at the obvious bulge in Jensen’s jeans. “That’s gonna start hurting soon.”  
   
“Been hurtin’ for a while now.”  
   
“I could kiss it and make it better.”  
   
Jensen chuckled. “You’ve been hanging around with preschoolers too much.”  
   
“I could suck you off and make it better?”  
   
Jensen slowly unbuckled his belt and opened the top button of his jeans before straddling Jared on the bed. He kneed his way up Jared’s body slowly, hands trailing up Jared’s chest. Finally he stopped with his thighs on either side of Jared’s upper torso, crotch above Jared’s head. Slowly he pulled down the zipper and moved his hand inside to free his erection.  
   
Jared reached around and groped Jensen’s denim clad ass. Fuck, it was hot to just have Jensen’s cock out like that and the rest of Jensen still covered. Jensen angled down until his dick grazed Jared’s lips. Jensen’s eyes shut momentarily as Jared licked at the crown. About time the cocky bastard lost a little of that tight control. Jared reached up and took over, urging Jensen to fuck into his mouth while he controlled the rhythm. Jensen’s cock was thick and as gorgeous as the rest of him and Jared really didn’t know how much longer he’d be okay with this staying dressed game. But for now the scrape of denim against his chin and fingertips was sending his blood flowing south again.  
   
Didn’t take long before Jensen was struggling to pull off. “Gonna—“  
   
Jared shifted back just long enough to say, “Want you to.” He swallowed hard and fast, sucking tight and squeezing out every drop. Jensen sank into him in a breathy release. He rolled over and plunked down next to Jared. They automatically turned toward each other. Jared leaned in for a soft, slow kiss, tasting himself and Jensen all combined. He groaned deep in his throat and brought Jensen closer.  
   
The clothes Jensen still wore were now unacceptably in the way. Jared started pulling Jensen’s shirt off his shoulders. “You really are overdressed.”  
   
“Yeah,” Jensen agreed, sleepily allowing Jared to undress him. Childlike, Jensen put his hands up and let Jared tug his tee-shirt off. Then he lifted his hips as Jared pulled his jeans and briefs down in one tug. Jared moved to the end of the bed and let first one then the other of Jensen’s feet slip out, dropping the pants to the floor. He quickly scooted back up the bed.  
   
“Shift up one more time,” he commanded, smiling at Jensen’s easy agreement. The man was very pliable after sex. Nice to know. Jared pulled them both beneath the covers.  
   
“Whatcha doin’?” Jensen asked groggily.  
   
“Um. Nothing. What are you doing?”  
   
“Should go to bed.”  
   
Jared laughed. “We are in bed.”  
   
“No. Mean the other … “ Jensen’s chin pointed in the general direction of the other empty bed in the room. “Sleep better in my own space.”  
   
“Ahh,” Jared said waiting. Jensen didn’t move. Instead, he seemed to sink even further into his pillow.  
   
Jared tentatively put an arm across Jensen’s waist. Jensen let out another adorable groan and wriggled slightly.  
   
Content, Jared shut his eyes. A second later he felt a hand move up his hip. He opened his eyes to a warm green stare. “Y’know … if we had stuff, I’d so want to fuck you.”  
   
Jared let the heat of that travel through him. “Me, too,” he challenged.  
   
Jensen held his gaze long enough to make Jared blink. “I’d let you.” The words were quiet and Jared had a feeling they meant more than Jared was able to process at the moment. Perpetrating Great Escapes from Top Secret Facilities, followed by the world’s most awesome blowjob, tended to wipe him out.  
   
It took a moment before he realized that Jensen had asked him something. Jensen repeated it. “Would you let me?”  
   
Oh, that was easy. He smiled broadly. “Absolutely.”  
   
Jensen’s answering smile was kinda breathtaking. ‘Course Jared was tired. But still. “I like you,” Jensen whispered.  
   
Jared leaned in and kissed his freckled nose. Which was fifty kinds of hokey but it had really been a long day and longer days were still to come. He fought that back and thought only of the beautiful man across from him. “I like you, too.”  
   
He shut his eyes slowly, letting Jensen’s gold-green stare burn behind his eyelids until sleep took over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  


  
**  
**  
  
**Cotton candy fascinated** Pro-One. He put it to his lips … full and pink, just like Jensen’s. Jared could only stare. After a second Pro-One said, “Sweet.”  
   
“You can taste?”  
   
“Smell. I can taste to a degree as well. But I cannot digest the food so I do not let it enter my system. I can analyze for content.”  
   
Chad looked at him. “Like detect poison and such?”  
   
“Yes. I was trained in detecting over five thousand different poisonous substances.”  
   
“You’re a regular Sherlock,” Chad teased.  
   
Pro-One looked proud, which of course was supposed to be impossible. But there weren’t too many other words to describe the twinkle in his eyes and his straight peacock-like stance. “I would make a good forensic detective.”  
   
That caught Jared’s attention. “If you could chose anything, Pro-One what would you like to do?”  
   
“We are doing what I like. Chad and I made a list.”  
   
“No. I mean, yes, we are. And we’ll keep going on your list. But … if things were different. And there was more time … “  
   
Jared had to swallow before he continued. But he wanted to know. “What would you like to be when you grow up?”  
   
Jensen looked at Jared now, frown forming. Like he thought the question callous. The doctor wasn’t quite as sold on Pro-One’s lack of feelings as he claimed. But Jared didn’t think it would be hurtful for Pro-One to answer that.  
   
“I am uncertain,” Pro-One replied. “May I process that further and let you know?”  
   
“Of course.”  
   
They worked their way up the boardwalk toward the amusement rides. Chad’s eyes lit up upon seeing the Ferris Wheel. “C’mon lil’ buddy. Bird’s eye view.”  
   
Pro-One looked at the large wheel structure, pupils fixing in and out. “That reaches a maximum height of two hundred feet. Most birds fly to altitudes of five hundred feet. During migrations they can go five thousand feet. A North African vulture called the Ruppell Griffon once was recorded flying at an altitude of 37,900 feet.”  
   
“Holy smoke. That’s as tall as Mount Everest.”  
   
“Higher, Chad. Mount Everest reaches a peak of 29,028 feet.”  
   
“How’d they know? I mean you said the vulture’s altitude was ‘recorded’?”  
   
“On November 29, 1975, one hit a jet engine above West Africa.” The robot paused and then locked eyes with Jensen even though Chad had asked the question. “He was likely not flying for long. But he obtained an incredible height.”  
   
Chad glanced between the progenitor and creation before pushing his hands in his pockets and turning to gaze back at the calm ocean. Jared approached Pro-One and wrapped a large arm around his shoulders, reaching for Jensen’s hand with the other. “Cognitive linguists would have a field day studying you.”  
   
They split into two units again to ride the Ferris Wheel. Pro-One automatically slid in next to Chad and gave a tiny wave as they took off. “Chad’s really good with him,” Jensen said as they sat in their own seat.  
   
Jared tilted his head up as if he’d be able to see his friend overhead. “Yeah. He’ll make a great dad one day. I knew that. He comes by sometimes and I’ve seen him with my kids.”  
   
“Pro-One isn’t a child.”  
   
They started moving upward stopping again as others boarded. Jared looked at Jensen. “I know he’s not.” Jared looked over the edge. They weren’t very high off the ground yet. The wheel turned another notch and they rose a little further. “Jensen.” Jared waited until Jensen looked at him. “What’s going to happen?”  
   
Jensen didn’t ask what Jared meant. “In thirty-one hours, the nanonites will lose the struggle. The degeneration will surpass their ability to knit the cells back together. The organic components will begin dying off. His outer epidermal will be effected first, turning gray as the cells die. Eventually, like a cancer, it’ll dig deeper. With the previous models … the neuronet went last. After that the robot shut down. Terminated, if you want to be all sci-fi about it.”  
   
“But those other models … they didn’t have your AI, right?”  
   
“No. They had much simpler programming. Although even that improved post organic merger. But not like … “  
   
They were higher now and Jared looked at the tops of the shops lining the boardwalk, the other rides comprising the small amusement area and the ocean -- the one constant in the changing landscape. Jensen stopped talking and Jared watched sadly as he wrapped his arms around himself. A laugh came from above them. Jared recognized Chad’s hearty bark. He met Jensen’s eyes and couldn’t help the smile from forming. Jensen smiled back at him before his face sobered again. “Jay … it’ll happen to him. My AI won’t make a difference to the nanonites erosion issue.”  
   
Jared nodded and brought his arm up over Jensen’s shoulder drawing him closer as they rose up slowly. Warm lips brushed Jared’s neck. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you and Chad. You won’t … you’ll stay, right?”  
   
“As long as you’ll have me.”  
 

  


   
“Chad. No. We are not going to Atlantic City, so put your _Rain Man_ fantasies to rest.”  
   
Chad pouted. “He’d clean up. And I have a plan. It’s foolproof.”  
   
Jared met Jensen’s amused glint. “They’ll know he’s counting cards. We’ll get kicked out at best. We can’t risk it … Besides there isn’t … “ _Enough time._  
   
They’d finished visiting the petting zoo. Before that they’d played a round of miniature golf. Pro-One won. Afterward, they picked up a pack of wildflower seeds from a small shop and Pro-One carefully planted them along a sunny dirt patch on the side of the road. Once, Jared caught Chad carefully uncrinkling Pro-One’s list . Chad opened it and looked down with a wistful smile before refolding it and putting it back in his pocket.  
   
After the sun started to set they worked their way to the bus station. That’s where the current conversation had come up.  
   
“Chad,” Pro-One said. “I would be able to win at Black Jack and ‘clean up’ as you say. But it will take us several hours to drive to New York City. And it is in the opposite direction of Atlantic City.”  
   
Pro-One didn’t say any more. Bottom line was there wasn’t enough time to visit both Atlantic City and New York City. They had to pick a bus and go in only one direction.  
   
“I have never been to a large metropolitan city. There will be millions of people. What does that feel like?”  
   
“New York’s fantastic,” Chad said. “You guys will love it.”  
   
Jared caught something in Chad’s tone. He pulled Jensen aside mumbling that he should give Chad and Pro-One some privacy.  
   
“I … lil’ dude … I can’t go with you.”  
   
Pro-One’s eyes widened as he touched Chad’s arm. “You are not coming with me?”  
   
“No. I think it’s best that I catch a bus back home.” He flipped his gaze to a nearby bus. “That one … it’s heading my way.”  
   
“We can go to Atlantic City.”  
   
Jared felt his eyes water. He didn’t need to look at Jensen to feel the other man’s emotions. A hand reached out and squeezed his. He held back tightly.  
   
“I was only kidding about that. Besides, it’s nothing special. Not like the Big Apple. You gotta go there. It’s on your list.”  
   
“Why will you not go with us? I wish you to. Please?”  
   
Chad gripped Pro-One’s shoulder. His eyes locked with the robot’s. “It’s not that I don’t want to be with you. It’s just … I think this … your time needs to be spent with Jensen now. And Jared’ll be there with Jensen.” Chad glanced their way a moment before returning his attention to Pro-One. “I know I got angry. Said some things … but the doc … he did something special. Amazing. You. Are amazing. An’ truth is he’s brave. Braver than anyone I ever met. Braver than me lil’ dude cause I can’t … “  
   
Pro-One put his hand on Chad’s shoulder, leaning in slightly. “Doctor Ackles is a wonderful man. He gave me everything. He gave me you.”  
   
Chad drew Pro-One toward him. Jared heard Chad’s muffled sob and leaned into Jensen’s shoulder to hide his own face. Blinking through tears he saw Chad move away from Pro-One.  
   
Jared stepped away from Jensen and approached his friend.  
   
They hugged hard. “Thanks,” Jared said, voice breaking.  
   
“I’m sorry. I just can’t … “  
   
“It’s okay. I know. It’s okay.”  
   
Chad pulled back. Wiped at his eyes. He stood in front of Jensen. “You did good,” he said firmly.  
   
Jensen nodded, gratitude showing on his face. He gave Chad a hug. Chad leaned into it and spoke in the doctor’s ear. “Never fucking do it again unless they get it fixed.”  
   
Letting out a soft sad chuckle Jensen hissed, “Couldn’t.”  
   
“Right,” Chad pulled himself together. “I’m going to head home. Do I have to worry about anyone coming after me?”  
   
“No. All their resources will be spent on recovering the unit.”  
   
Chad returned to Jared. “Jensen isn’t going to leave Pro-One.” Jared nodded, he knew that. “He’ll need you.”  
   
Jared didn’t bother replying. He watched through watery vision as Chad unfolded a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. Silently he folded the paper in half and then in half again. Jared saw the wings form and the tail take shape. When done, he handed the paper airplane of Pro-One’s list to the robot.  
   
“Take this and sail it off the Empire State Building. Set it free. Like you were.”  
   
Pro-One was about to speak, perhaps to agree but Chad put his finger to his own lips and used the universal signal for silence. Then he boarded the bus quickly without looking back. The windows were dark, tinted and they couldn’t see inside.  
   
Jared stood on one side of Pro-One and Jensen to the other. “Our bus is this way,” Jensen said softly, walking them to the other gate.  
   
“Do you know what the last thing on my list is?” Pro-One asked.  
   
“No, what is it?” Jensen asked. Jared picked up his nervousness that they’d never get to it all.  
   
“To make a friend.”  
   
Jared smiled, meeting matching glowing green eyes. “Well then. You did better than that. You made two friends.”  
   
Jensen balked. “Hey, what about me?”  
   
“You are not a friend, Doctor Ackles.” Jensen paled, eyes widening. Jared was about to distract, perhaps change the subject when the robot added. “You are family.” There was a pause. “Is that not correct?”  
   
Jensen couldn’t talk so Jared answered firmly. “Yes. It sure is.”  
 

  


   
Jared secured them a hotel room while Jensen and Pro-One explored the city. They agreed to meet up at the Empire State Building. Jensen had discovered that the Observation Booth was open until two a.m. They planned to meet at midnight.  
   
Alone for the first time in days, Jared felt untethered. He’d gotten used to the constant company. Pro-One’s deadpan humor. Jensen’s sexy vibe. Chad’s warm, solid presence. He’d booked them a junior suite. The bedroom had a door so that anyone could have privacy if they needed it. He had about an hour before going to meet Jensen and his robot.  
   
He took the time to reflect. If someone had told him a week ago that walking into his neighborhood pub would lead to meeting someone so extraordinary. And then meeting someone even more amazing. Well, he couldn’t have possibly believed that. Yet here he was. These _men_ had shown him so much. About perseverance. Courage. Love. He had absolutely no doubt that Pro-One loved Jensen in the way a son loves his father. Jensen was by far the smartest man Jared had ever met. But it wasn’t just that. Because there was a reason for his confidence. And what Jared had first thought of as arrogance turned out to be a steel core of character.  
   
It was hard to know what would happen when this adventure ended. When the grief faded. He knew he wanted to see if he and Jensen could make a go of it. Knew he wanted to at least try. Because Jared had many boyfriends in his past. But he never felt for any of them what he was feeling now.  
   
Flipping stations passed the time although his mind couldn’t absorb anything on the television screen. It was still a little early but Jared couldn’t stay in the room any longer. He missed his boys.  
   
Grabbing a hoodie out of his duffel Jared headed downtown toward the city’s tallest building. Jensen and Pro-One were waiting outside when he arrived.  
   
Pro-One broke into a grin when he saw Jared. Jensen approached first, reaching up and drawing their lips together briefly. Jared was surprised. “Missed me?”  
   
Jensen looked at him before drawing his eyes down. “Maybe. A little.”  
   
Jared laughed and put an arm around each of them, bending to kiss Jensen again. “Me, too. Both of you. C’mon we got an elevator to catch.”  
   
They rode it up to the 86th floor observation area. It was warm enough to step outside onto the balcony. At this hour there were only a few couples cuddled close, gazing over the shimmering lights of the city.  
   
Pro-One approached the edge. “It is like the stars fell down.”  
   
Jared held onto Jensen from behind, wrapping his arms around Jensen’s torso, one hand near his heart. He sniffed Jensen’s earthiness and nuzzled the back of his head. “His language skills are off the charts.”  
   
A hand came up to press him closer. But then Jensen looked sideways toward Pro-One and Jared felt him stiffen. “What?” he whispered.  
   
“See that?”  
   
Jared looked over but the light was dim. He squinted and noticed a small gray patch on the robot’s cheek. He stared a little longer and it seemed to shimmer for a second before fading.  
   
“The nanonites are fighting to stave off the degeneration. But there aren’t enough of them left. It’s … begun.”  
   
“Does he know?” Jared whispered.  
   
“Of course.”  
   
Pro-One reached into his pocket and removed the list but it was no longer in paper airplane form. “Let me,” Jared offered. He didn’t work all day with preschoolers for nothing. In seconds he returned it to Pro-One in perfect condition. “She’ll fly now.”  
   
“Thank you, Jared,” Pro-One said holding his gaze several long moments. Jared didn’t think they were talking about paper airplanes any longer. The robot gazed at Jared’s hand resting over Jensen’s heart. He smiled before pulling his arm back and letting the paper float away. It disappeared into the city’s lights. Jared didn’t know what was on the list aside from what they’d spoken about. He’d never seen it. Only Chad and Pro-One had recorded it between them.  
   
“Did you get to do it all?” Jensen asked softly. Jared knew Pro-One heard him. He held Jensen extra tight as they waited for an answer.  
   
Pro-One turned to them. “I will never be on _American Idol_.”  
   
Jensen burst out laughing. Hard and guttural like the act caught him off guard. He shimmied out of Jared’s grip and turned with his back to the railing, shoulders heaving.  
   
Pro-One took Jensen’s hand. “We need to go back. My motor functions are compromised.”  
   
Jensen sobered instantly. He took a position on Pro-One’s other side, and holding his elbow they rode the elevator down in silence. A quick taxi ride and they were back in the room.  
   
“That was my second taxi ride,” Pro-One told Jensen as he sat on the sofa.  
   
In the sitting room’s full light, Jared could see the growth of the gray patches on the robot’s skin. Jensen had explained that those areas were literally dead. Eventually the entire epidural would die out and while the erosion continued in the deeper layers, Jensen said the neuronet would go last. So Pro-One would retain consciousness until the end.  
   
Nobody was hungry but Jared ordered room service anyway and insisted that Jensen at least have some soup. He watched as Jensen struggled with a few sips before discarding the bowl. Truthfully, he hardly did much better with his own sandwich. They nursed a beer each.  
   
Pro-One looked between them. “Do not be sad. I had experiences that taught me much.”  
   
“We’re fine,” Jensen lied. “Can I … is there anything I can do?”  
   
“My motor function has nearly ceased. Can you help me get to the bedroom? I think perhaps I would prefer it in there.”  
   
They both jumped up and ended up partially carrying Pro-One to the bed. He was so still. Jared fought the eeriness. “Doctor Ackles?”  
   
“Yes?”  
   
“May I have a few minutes alone with Jared?”  
   
Jensen looked surprised. He hesitated, eyes looking around. The room contained Jared’s bag and Pro-One’s jacket tossed over a chair. Jensen’s laptop was on the night table. Jared followed Jensen’s gaze to the computer, to Pro-One, and finally back to Jared. “I’ll be right outside.”  
   
Jared sat on the bed and turned toward Pro-One. He took his limp hand in his. It hurt that the robot couldn’t even squeeze back. “Have you lost all sensation?”  
   
“No. Not all. I know you are holding my hand.”  
   
That made Jared smile. “Did you understand why Chad couldn’t stay?”  
   
“I think so. He did not want to say goodbye.”  
   
Jared nodded. He wished he didn’t have to say goodbye either. Damn, he hated this. Unfairly cursing Alona Tal in his mind he tried to shake away the bitterness.  
   
“May I ask you something, Jared?”  
   
“Of course.”  
   
“Do you love Doctor Ackles?”  
   
Jared stared at Pro-One’s still-too-green eyes. Whatever was happening to the rest of his now dust-colored skin hadn’t impacted his eyes yet. “I … could.”  
   
“You could love him?”  
   
“I think so. We just need to get to know each other better.”  
   
“Will you?”  
   
“Will I get to know him better? I hope so.”  
   
“I do not know what love feels like. But I would like to think that I have seen it before I … go away.”  
   
Jared leaned down and kissed Pro-One’s forehead. “You’ve seen it. I promise you this.”  
   
“Jared, I would like to spend the rest of my time with Doctor Ackles. Is that okay?”  
   
“Of course, I’ll go get him.”  
   
“No. I mean alone with Doctor Ackles.” Jared was surprised. He’d intended to stay with Jensen until … But he had to respect Pro-One’s wishes. “Jared. You have been a good friend. And I wish I never had to forget you.”  
   
Jared shook himself out of his stupor. “Of course,” he repeated again. “I … I’m so glad I met you. So glad you hit me.”  
   
Pro-One grinned, but it was weak. Control of his facial muscles was slipping away, too. Jared guessed speech would be hard soon. “You will send in Doctor Ackles? His was the first face I ever saw with these eyes.”  
   
Jared swallowed hard. He leaned in and kissed Pro-One’s forehead again before rising off the bed. “I’ll send him in. And then I’ll wait for him.”  
   
He saw Pro-One’s satisfaction in hearing that before heading out to the main room.  
   
Jensen stood as soon as Jared approached. “He’s okay,” Jared assured quickly. “Still speaking, but … losing some facial control.” Jensen nodded as if he’d been expecting that. “He wants you. Only you.”  
   
Jensen considered him, face sad but resigned. He pressed their foreheads together. “You’ll be here.”  
   
Jared found Jensen’s lips with his own and rubbed against them gently. “Yes. Not going anywhere.”  
   
Taking a step forward Jensen returned Jared’s kiss a little more deeply. “I … “  
   
“Me, too,” Jared murmured, giving Jensen a last hard squeeze before the doctor walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.  
   
Jared made it back to the sofa before his legs gave out. He held the television remote but never turned it on. The beer grew warm on the side table. The food sat uneaten on the tray. It was hard to say how long he sat, staring at the black rectangle of the TV in the armoire.  
   
Long enough to relive every moment of the most incredible week of his life.  
   
Long enough to lick his lips and not taste Jensen any more.  
   
Long enough to realize it had taken an unfeeling machine to teach him what love felt like.  
   
The snick of the door opening was unbearably loud. Jensen pulled it closed behind him and stood motionless. Then he dropped slowly, back sliding down the door until he sat hugging his knees.  
   
Jared approached carefully. Knelt in front of Jensen and met heartbroken eyes.  
   
“I tried,” Jensen whispered.  
   
“I know you did. And it might take a long time to feel like it. But you succeeded.”  
   
Jensen studied him a long time. “He said that.”  
   
Jared smiled through his tears. He sat alongside Jensen and leaned back against the wall. Carefully he maneuvered Jensen between his long legs until he was resting against Jared’s chest. Jared felt Jensen’s shoulders shake as he tried to keep it in, tried to control himself. He lifted one finger to gently wipe at the tears streaming down Jensen’s cheek and held on.  
   
Time passed.  
   
Eventually, Jared asked. “What happens now?”  
   
He felt Jensen straighten in front of him. “I make a call and they’ll come get him. Even … like this … he’s incredibly valuable.”  
   
“What about you? What happens to you?”  
   
He tilted Jensen’s head so they could see each other. The doctor shrugged. “Nothing.” Jared’s surprise must have shown. “They’ll complain and make noise and pointless threats. But in the end nothing will come of it besides a bunch of nondisclosure agreements saying nothing happened and if it did we can’t talk about it. They won’t do anything to me.” He wasn’t crying anymore but his eyes were still shiny. “I’m Cybernon,” he said with a final dismissive shrug.  
   
“No, Jensen,” Jared said strongly. He made sure the other man faced him. “You are so much more.”  
   
Jensen searched Jared’s eyes again with that familiar intensity. He was as focused as his robot at times. “Will you leave now?”  
   
“Do you want me to?”  
   
“Pro-One said that I gave him Chad. I told Pro-One he gave me something, too.” Jared’s brow raised in question. “You. He gave me you.”  
   
Jared nipped the corner of Jensen’s lips with his own before settling back to hold Jensen around the middle. No. He wasn’t going anywhere.  
   
Eventually, housekeeping would come knocking and make them move. Calls would be made and black helicopters would swoop down and take them both to sign away having ever seen anything. Jared would return to his kids and make up stories about fabulous human-like machines while Sandy watched with giggling eyes. She’d ask who he was dating and he’d say a computer programmer. She’d look at him oddly and say, “How tame.”  
   
But before all that, Jared held on tight to the gorgeous man who created an even more beautiful machine. And thanked the heavens he got to meet them both.   
 

  
**The End  
   
  
**

  
**  
Chad twisted his** neck and popped his back before pasting a smile on his face, looking up again, and signing what felt like the millionth book. A young woman stood before him, eyes gleaming excitedly as Chad asked her name.  
   
“Trudy,” she said shyly.  
   
He wrote her name with an all-purpose comment, then paused to stretch the fingers of his right hand.  
   
“Did they stay together?”  
   
Chad looked up again. “What?”  
   
“Jay and the doctor. Did they stay together? I hope so. They seemed so good together.”  
   
He smirked. “Sure. Meeting up with them later in fact.”  
   
Her eyes widened before a nervous giggle left her lips. “Oh ... you had me there for a moment.”  
   
Chuckling he signed his name quickly. She was the last one in the line. It had been a good but long day. “Wasn’t really about that, you know,” he told her, studying her. She wore a paisley peasant-style blouse and her hair was long and loose and wavy. Looked soft. _Touching hair_. It was on the list. It was odd and Chad never knew why Pro-One had the hair fetish. But the robot had touched Chad’s short hair while letting out a small, satisfied sigh. Felt like yesterday even though a year had gone by.  
   
“I know that. The story was beautiful.”  
   
He hadn’t been fishing for a compliment and colored slightly. “Thank you.”  
   
She took the book and hugged it to her chest, meeting his eyes again. “Would you have chosen the ninety days?”  
   
Her eyes were brown and huge in her small, pixyish face. In another era she’d have been a hippie. A flower child. “I don’t know,” he told her as the store manager hovered to urge her out.  
   
That was a lie, of course. The real answer was no. Chad had no delusions. He wasn’t the brave one in the story.  
   
The store manager thanked him and helped gather his stuff. His cell phone vibrated just as he was about to exit. He reached down to read his incoming text message.  
   
_How did it go?_  
   
He smiled at the text before replying.  
   
_Gr8. Fans luv me._ He hit send and paused a moment before moving his thumbs over the miniature keyboard to type out a second message. _Almost as much as u._  
   
“Mr. Murray, are you all set?”  
   
He turned back to the store manager and gave her a last smile. Outside he caught a cab and gave an address.  
   
O’Malley’s stood on a quiet, tree-lined block. Pretty nondescript neighborhood bar. Wasn’t Chad’s neighborhood. Close to Jared’s apartment. But Chad still thought of it as his bar. His eyes took only a moment to adjust to the dim lighting, and he found Jared immediately, as even sitting he towered freakishly tall. Jensen sat next to him. They were smiling over something private, bodies leaning into each other, gazes locked.  
   
Chad had lived through many of Jared’s boyfriends. He’d seen him in like and in lust. He’d seen him frustrated and bored. He’d seen him smitten and curious. But before Jensen he’d never seen him in love.  
   
It was a good look for him.  
   
As Chad approached they stood, but he beckoned them back down.  
   
“How’d it go?” Jensen asked.  
   
“Great.” Chad’s cell phone vibrated and he flipped it open without thinking. “Doc ... your AI is texting me again.”  
   
It began about two weeks ago with a text message from an unknown number, _Greetings Chad Michael Murray._ Chad had been stunned and immediately called Jensen, wondering if the black helicopters were going to be landing on his roof anytime soon.  
   
Jensen said he’d get back to him, nowhere near as surprised as Chad would have expected. Less than a half hour later Jensen called back and assured him that no, there wouldn’t be any repercussions. It seemed that Pro-Two had created a secure channel and reached out on his own. Jensen didn’t explain it further. Chad said he didn’t mind. He and the computer program texted back and forth a few times. Pro-Two inquired about the book and what Chad was up to.  
   
But then the messages started to change.  
   
A waitress interrupted them with a fresh round. Jensen looked at Jared expectantly without saying anything. Jared’s eyes grew bright. Chad looked back and forth between them reading their barely hidden excitement. “So I’m not imagining it?” It was hard to keep the hope out of his voice.  
   
Jensen spoke softly. “Pro-Two is very much like ... “  
   
“Yeah, yeah, you told me all that already. Similar personality, blah blah ... but he mentioned Lady Gaga.”  
   
Both men looked at him puzzled.  
   
“4B was singing Lady Gaga in the shower the first day Jared brought him over. Pro-One heard it and then mimicked it. I never told you that. Never told Jensen that. How did Pro-Two know that?”  
   
Jared turned to Jensen as if asking for permission. Jensen nodded, lips tilting in a smile. “That last day. Jensen ... was able to do a partial upload. It’s not all of it. It’s not _him_. But ... some of his memories are in Pro-Two.”  
   
“I thought you said it was impossible. You told Collins that.”  
   
Jensen’s chin rose slightly. “Yeah, well, I’m not Collins.”  
   
Cocky bastard.  
   
“How come it took so long for Pro-Two to access those memories? It’s been a year.”  
   
Jensen looked awkward. Not his usual expression. “It was only a partial. And much of the data was corrupted. I’ve been working on retrieval. About two weeks ago the first one came through. Pro-Two described playing Frisbee.”  
   
Jared placed his hand over Jensen’s and the two moved closer. Chad blinked. Frisbee. Lady Gaga. The texts.  
   
Jared said what Chad was wondering. “So far ... all the memories. They’re of you.”  
   
It’s not like it ever really went away. But suddenly it was all just _back_. He reached for the beer and swallowed it down fast, tamping down his emotions. Putting the glass down he locked eyes with Jensen. “Has Alona made any progress?”  
   
“No. Not yet.”  
   
Chad nodded. He wasn’t surprised at that. It was what it was.  
   
His cell vibrated again and Chad reached for it immediately.  
   
He replied quickly. _Yeah they r here with me_  
   
He waited for a response.  
   
“He says to say ‘greetings to you,’” Chad relayed with a grin.  
   
Jared’s smile lit his face. Jensen pulled his beer to his lips smothering his matching expression.  
   
Chad returned his eyes to his vibrating phone. After a long moment he looked at Jared. “He says he finished thinking it over.”  
   
Jared’s eyebrow rose in question.  
   
“Remember on the beach when you asked Pro-One what he’d want to do if he had … what he wanted to be when he grew up. I think he’s answering you. He handed the phone over to Jared who read the short text.  
   
_Please tell Jared I gave it some thought and believe I would like to be a teacher like him._  
   
His friends huddled to read the words. Chad studied Jensen’s achingly familiar face and Jared’s misty eyes. Looked like the memories were expanding. Jared squeezed the phone and held Chad’s eyes a long moment before he started typing back.  
   
Maybe this time Chad would be able to say that he was there at the beginning. 

 ** _fin_**   

  
**  
[To Author's Notes & Acknowledgements](http://sandymg.livejournal.com/55356.html)  
[To Master Post on LiveJournal](http://sandymg.livejournal.com/55699.html)  
**  
[To Art Post on LiveJournal](http://sillie82.livejournal.com/287345.html) (Note that Art Post has additional art not shown with the story!)  
**  
**

 

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: borgmama1of5 on LiveJournal


End file.
